Teenage Hearts
by Tori's Tiara
Summary: It's always been said that your high school years are always your best: fun, memorable, and full of firsts. But no one ever warned that it can get complicated, especially when it came to your first love. AU.
1. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

"This blows," a lazy voice groaned from the hammock swinging near the patio.

"It's not going to be so bad," chimed another voice, this time from a figure lounging on one of the many reclining chairs surrounding the pool.

It would've been any other summer day at the Hyuga mansion—Ino Yamanaka trying to persuade the trio into dancing and partying late into the night, Sakura Haruno lugging over thick textbooks and reciting medical terms and functions, and Hinata Hyuga just going with the flow—but while not a single second of their vacation had gone wasted, it had certainly flown by, and now the three were lying around Hinata's pool, brooding over the inevitable: going back to school the next day.

"Of course _you _wouldn't find it totally boring, miss I-want-to-be-a-doctor," Ino retorted. Although neither Sakura nor Hinata could see Ino's expression, they could tell she was rolling her eyes by the tone of her voice.

"I think it might be a fun year," Hinata piped in, tucking her dark hair behind her ear as she swished her bare feet in the crystalline pool water. "We're juniors now, which means a more flexible schedule and a bunch of fun electives we couldn't take our first two years."

"Still," Ino huffed as she climbed out of the hammock. "It's school." She walked around to the other side of the pool and sat across from Hinata, dunking her feet in the water as well. She sighed. "We should at least do _something_ since it's our last day of freedom. Something fun and memorable so we can tell everyone at school tomorrow that we had the best summer break ever."

"If that's the case, we should go to that bonfire down at the beach," Sakura said, sitting up and glancing over at the two other girls. "I hear it's supposed to be a blast. The city is hosting it, so there will be free food and music and it starts at sunset. Does _that _sound like your ideal way of celebrating the end of break?"

"I heard about that, actually," Hinata commented, her eyes brightening. "Father has been talking about it since before school let out; he's been planning to do something fun and exciting for Konoha to enjoy the end of summer, but he never told me the city officials approved of the bonfire…" Hinata's eyebrows knitted in confusion. As she casted her eyes back down to her feet, she sighed. "Strange." Hiashi Hyuga, Hinata's father, was a well-respected official of Konoha City; the mayor, Tsunade, was always looking for excuses to do some sort of event (in exchange for not doing paperwork, of course) so she always went to Mr. Hyuga for the task.

At that moment, Ino's phone began to buzz and a poppy ringtone started playing. "It's Kiba," the blonde announced cheerfully before flipping her phone open and answering the call. Sakura, Hinata, and Ino have been something like sisters since their preschool days, so the term "best friends" just didn't cut it for them. All of those years spent getting to know each other and developing their bond meant that now, at sixteen years old, they knew each other better than they knew themselves. That's how they figured out that Ino had found herself a new beau to crush on: Kiba Inuzuka. The way she laughed and twirled her cornsilk locks around her fingers just proved their assumption accurate.

Hinata and Sakura exchanged an interested look, their eyebrows raised in curiosity as they listened in on Ino's conversation. It didn't take them long to piece together why he called her—besides, even if they already knew, there was no way that Ino wasn't going to tell them about it. When she hung up and gave Hinata and Sakura an ecstatic grin, they knew what was coming next.

"He asked me out!" Ino squealed excitedly, getting to her feet and jumping around.

"Be careful!" Hinata cautioned, her pale violet hues following Ino in concern. "Your feet are wet and if you keep doing that, you might fall."

"Oh, you're no fun, Hinata," Ino grumbled, sticking her tongue out playfully at Hinata once she stopped her antics.

"She just doesn't want you to get hurt, Ino," Sakura said with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, I can't believe _Kiba_ asked you out, and I find it harder to believe that you _like_ him. Didn't he chop off a big chunk of your hair in the fourth grade? I'm pretty sure since then you've avoided him at all costs, so why the sudden change of heart?"

Kiba was a childhood friend of the three girls; while he was never as close to them as they were to each other, and although they had met after the three girls already had a few years of friendship under their belts, he was still good friends with them, though particularly so with Hinata. Even if they weren't _best friends_, they were still pretty close, so Hinata was particularly surprised that he had any interest in Ino and hadn't told her about it.

"I don't know, Sakura," Ino sighed, sitting back down on the edge of the pool. "He's gotten cuter and more mature since elementary and middle school. Plus, he's always been a lot of fun… When he's not chopping off my beautiful hair, that is," she interjected, shuddering at the memory. That day might as well have been the end of the world, what with how Ino reacted. You'd have thought that her hair was what kept her alive.

"I would really hope he's gotten more mature. It's been a whole _seven years_ since then." Sakura shook her head as she got up and joined them at the pool, plopping down beside Hinata and dipping her feet in the cool water like the other two. "So? How did he ask you out? I know you're dying to tell us," she said with a knowing smirk.

"Oh, I so am!" Ino exclaimed gleefully. "Okay, so, basically he just started off with a, 'Hey, Ino! Are you busy?' and of course I told him no—"

"Even though you're hanging out with us?" Sakura interjected, throwing her a playful smirk.

"It's not like we were really doing anything!" Ino shot back, sticking her tongue out at the rosy-haired girl. "Now shush and let me continue! Anyway, so he was asking me about how my summer was, and whether I was excited about going back to school, just a bunch of idle chitchat, until he finally stopped beating around the bush and asked if the three of us were doing anything fun for the last day of break. I told him that we were just talking about checking out the bonfire tonight, and he told me that he was going to go with Shikamaru and called to ask us if we were interested in going." The blonde sucked in a deep breath before continuing. "So I told him that we'd definitely be there and he said, 'You better be. Everything is more fun with you girls around.' And that's pretty much how he asked me out."

Hinata and Sakura exchanged a wary glance, silently communicating with each other before the dark-haired girl blew out a sigh.

"Um, Ino," she began a little hesitantly. "It didn't really sound like he was asking you out. If anything, he was just looking for more people to go tonight."

Ino crossed her arms across her chest and jutted her lower lip out in a pout. "Then why did he call my phone and not yours?" she asked. At that, Hinata was stumped; usually Kiba called her to see what they were doing, so she was surprised that it wasn't the case this time around. "Besides, you should've just listened to his _tone_. He was flirty to the max."

Sakura shook her head teasingly. "I have a feeling it doesn't matter what we say. You're going to drag us to that bonfire tonight whether we like it or not, aren't you?"

Ino dropped her arms and shrugged, a wicked smile playing on her lips. "Totally! You should know this by now, Sakura."

And without further ado, Ino dragged Hinata and Sakura from the pool and into the house so that they could start getting ready for tonight.


	2. That Mischievous Smirk

One hour. That was all Hinata and Sakura needed to get ready for the bonfire. Ino, however, needed another three to primp and groom herself until she was satisfied with her appearance; after all, if she was going to be in the company of the guy she's set her sights on, she'd need the extra time to make herself absolutely irresistible in order to cast her infamous Yamanaka charm on him.

However, while she was raiding the closet and fixing up her hair, Hinata found her cell phone charging on her bed. There were two missed calls, and they were both from Kiba; Hinata shared that knowledge with Sakura, but neither one of them had the heart to tell Ino that she might've been reading a little too deeply into her phone conversation with the boy. The last thing they wanted to do was give her a reason to accuse them (in her usual dramatic Ino fashion) of trying to interfere with her love life; they had tried to do that once before, but it was a disaster, so Sakura and Hinata have long since resigned themselves to let Ino figure things out on her own.

* * *

By the time the girls had departed for the bonfire, the sun had already set. Neji, Hinata's cousin, had offered to accompany them on their walk to the beach. It wasn't very far from where they lived and the streetlamps provided plenty of illumination, but he insisted until Hinata finally agreed; he has always been uncharacteristically protective of her, and although she never fully understood why, it was one of the few things that really strengthened the relationship between the two Hyuga teens.

They all had been strolling along the sidewalk for only about ten minutes, but as they drew closer and closer to the beach, a loud cacophony of crashing waves, upbeat music, happy chatter, and raucous laughter reached their ears. The glow of the towering bonfire soon came into sight and then, finally, they arrived at the beach. It was far more packed than the three girls had anticipated. It was a lovely surprise because, by the looks of it, several of their classmates were milling about. Their peers were idling around, chatting, dancing, or eating, and as the three joined the midst, numerous people greeted them. Hinata even spotted Lee and Tenten, Neji's own personal trio; while they never interacted very often (due to the one year age difference), they were always friendly towards each other, so when she caught their eye, she gave them a small wave, smiling to herself when Neji joined them; it always made her happy that, even though he appeared standoffish, he still made friends. And from what Hinata has gathered, they were great ones, too.

Shikamaru, another long-time friend, was seated in the sand, his back propped against one of the many logs surrounding the bonfire. He was munching on a dumpling and staring out into the waves lapping up against the shore when Hinata, Sakura, and Ino approached him.

"Hey, Shikamaru," Hinata greeted with a warm smile.

"How's it goin'?" he replied, returning her smile with a lazy one of his own.

"Have you seen Kiba?" Ino asked him, her pretty blue hues scanning the throngs of people hanging around them.

"Hello to you too, Ino. I'm doing great, thanks for asking. How about you?" Shikamaru shot back sarcastically, rolling his eyes before taking another bite into his food.

Sakura laughed as Ino looked over her shoulder and gave Shikamaru the full force of her glare. "Ignore her," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "She's in her boy-crazed mindset right now."

"Uh oh, is Kiba her next victim?" Shikamaru asked with a smirk as Hinata and Sakura took a seat on either side of him. Hinata giggled at his remark, which quickly turned into a chortle when Ino turned around and planted her hands on her hips, an irritated expression on her face.

"Kiba isn't a _victim_, Shikamaru. And neither were all of my other love interests, for that matter," she huffed, folding her arms across her chest. Though Ino came off as such, she wasn't actually angry with Shikamaru; their parents have been best friends since their schooldays, so it was only natural that they'd drag their own kids on play dates. Shikamaru and Ino were actually pretty close, close enough to bicker and tease each other without taking their "disagreements" to heart.

Shikamaru's lips quirked into an amused smile, his eyes fixed on something over Ino's shoulder. "You should tell him that yourself, since he's coming this way now."

The blonde's eyes widened in surprise before she spun around, running her fingers through her hair and applying a flirty smile on her face. Before she could say anything to him, however, Kiba made a beeline for Shikamaru, seeming completely oblivious to the three girls around him.

"Shikamaru, you won't believe who I just saw!" he exclaimed when he finally reached the group. Akamaru, Kiba's puppy, was yelping excitedly at his feet.

"Hey, Kiba," Ino greeted, sidling up next to him in a way she reserved for the guys she was interested in.

Kiba blinked in surprise, glancing at the girl beside him. "Oh, hey, Ino. I didn't see you there." He turned his eyes to the other girls. "Or you guys, for that matter. It's great to see you! When did you guys get here?" he asked, going around and giving the girls a hug each.

"About five minutes ago," Sakura answered as she returned Kiba's embrace. "Who were you talking about just now? You seemed really excited."

"Yeah, who _were_ you talking about? And did you bring me another dumpling?" Shikamaru asked. Kiba tossed him a steaming bun wrapped in a clear plastic. Shikamaru nodded his thanks as he popped in the last piece of his first dumpling before working on the wrapper of his second one. Before Kiba could answer Shikamaru's initial question, though, a loud and foreign voice joined them.

"Yo!"

Jumping in surprise, Hinata, Ino, and Sakura looked around to find a tall, unfamiliar blond boy standing next to Kiba. He seemed to be their age, and by the way he greeted Kiba, it appeared that they knew each other, which was strange because the three girls had never seen him before.

"Shikamaru! Long time no see!" the stranger said with a grin.

The hot dumpling was halfway to Shikamaru's mouth when he froze, astonished at the sight of the blond guy. His dark eyes widened before he scrambled to his feet and made his way over to him.

"Naruto! It's been ages! How've you been, man? When did you come back?" Shikamaru asked as he brought Naruto into a quick one-armed hug. As they thumped each other on the back, Hinata couldn't tear her eyes away from the stranger. He was unlike anyone she's ever met before. Even though they hadn't spoken a word to each other, Hinata couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with this strange feeling like she knew him somehow. She was certain that they've never met before, or else she would've remembered him. But something about the way he came off (his aura, his personality, the way he talked) felt oddly comforting _and_ captivating all at once, and she didn't understand why.

"Hinata, do you know him?" Sakura whispered in her ear, surprised to see just how transfixed the dark-haired girl was on the unfamiliar teenager.

Sakura's question snapped Hinata out of her stupor. "N-no," she whispered back, her cheeks turning into a rosy color as embarrassment overcame her. "Do you?"

"Nope," Sakura answered, her curious eyes trained on Naruto.

It was at that moment when he finally noticed the three other girls.

"You guys didn't tell me you had such beautiful friends," he said in an attempted whisper, though with his naturally boisterous voice, Ino, Sakura, and Hinata could hear him very clearly. The blush in Hinata's cheeks intensified, and soon she found herself staring at her lap, knotting and unknotting her fingers over and over; it was an unconscious habit of hers that only made itself known when she was nervous.

Sakura raised her eyebrows at the compliment while Ino simply rolled her eyes, edging closer and closer to Kiba. Naruto noticed and, with a devilish grin, he elbowed Kiba in the ribs teasingly.

"You sly dog," he said with an impish glint in his clear blue eyes. "You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend."

At Naruto's comment, a surge of blood rushed to Kiba's face. He glanced at Ino for her reaction, his eyes quickly darting away when he noticed that she was staring at him. "She's not my girlfriend," he mumbled awkwardly, crouching down to pet Akamaru in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

The statement, while true, left Ino disappointed, her shoulders sagging slightly at his response. Although she was sad about it now, it was a guarantee that determination and perseverance would soon take its place; after all, Ino Yamanaka was never easily dissuaded when she had her eyes on the prize.

"I see you're still the same idiot you were back then," Shikamaru mused, grinning.

"And you're as sarcastic as ever," Naruto shot back with a smirk. "Now introduce me, will ya?"

"Alright, alright! This is Ino Yamanaka, the one you thought was Kiba's girlfriend," Shikamaru began, gesturing at Ino. She offered Naruto a wry smile and a small wave before Shikamaru continued on with the introductions.

"This is Hinata Hyuga." Hinata peeked up at Naruto and tucked a dark strand of her hair behind her ear, giving him a shy but friendly smile and a quiet, "Hi."

"And last, but not least, Sakura Haruno." A polite smile tugged at Sakura's lips when Naruto's blue eyes met her mint-green ones.

"Ladies, this is Naruto Uzumaki. He, Kiba, and I were best buds way back since preschool, but he moved away the year before we started elementary school because of, uh…" Shikamaru paused, his warm eyes quickly becoming serious as he glanced at Naruto from the corner of his eye. "Personal reasons."

The vague explanation piqued the curiosity of the girls, but even they knew by Shikamaru's tone that it was better not to ask questions. The fact that Naruo's easygoing smile began to look a little forced was reason enough not to meddle into his private business.

"It's nice to meet you, Naruto," Hinata piped up in an attempt to alleviate the uncomfortable atmosphere, offering the blond a warm smile.

By the obvious relief in his expression, Hinata could tell Naruto appreciated the rescue. "It's nice to meet you too, Hinata. Is it alright if I take a seat here?" he asked, pointing at the space between her and Sakura.

"N-no, not at all," she murmured in a timid voice, a wave of embarrassment manifesting itself in the form of a blush on her ivory cheeks. With that said, Naruto made his way over and sat between the two girls, giving them each a friendly smile.

It was situations like this where Hinata felt totally out of her element; for a reason she wasn't entirely sure of, a cage of butterflies had opened into the pit of her stomach at Naruto's sudden proximity, making it hard for her to concentrate on anything else but him. It didn't matter whether or not he thought she was weird, though, because most of his attention was focused on Sakura.

"C'mon, Kiba. Let's go for a walk," Ino said, her flirty smile back on her face. It didn't surprise anyone that she had already bounced back from her short-lived bout of disappointment.

As Kiba and Ino broke away from the group and began to stroll along the beach, their arms hooked together, and as Naruto and Sakura chatted effortlessly, a strange emotion Hinata was unfamiliar with reared its head; it left her stomach in twisted, unpleasant knots and a bitter taste in her mouth. It was unlike anything she's ever felt before, and as Shikamaru joined Sakura and Naruto's conversation, the feeling only intensified.

"I'm going to go get something to drink," Hinata announced before getting to her feet and weaving her way between several groups of people. It wasn't until she was walking back to the others that she finally understood that the emotion she was feeling was jealousy. That realization took Hinata completely by surprise. Never in her life had she ever been jealous of anyone before, but as she approached the three other teens and noticed just how comfortable Naruto and Sakura appeared to be, it finally clicked.

_Snap yourself out of it, Hinata! Sakura is one of your _best friends_, so you shouldn't be feeling like this! You don't even know the guy, so what's the matter with you?_ she mentally scolded herself, shaking her head in an attempt to will away her ill sentiments.

"Here, I got everyone some drinks," Hinata said when she reached the others, juggling several cups in her arms. She handed Sakura and Shikamaru their drinks, but as she held out the last plastic cup to Naruto, she couldn't help but shrug sheepishly. "I don't really know what you like to drink, so I got you some juice. I hope that's okay," she told him, smiling softly.

"Juice is perfect. Thanks, Hinata," Naruto said, grinning warmly up at her as he grabbed the cup and took a sip. "Come and sit. We were just wondering when you were going to come back." He patted the empty space beside him, and with a pounding heart, she took her previous seat.

"So what have I missed?" Hinata asked, glancing around at the others.

"Naruto was just telling us that he's going to start junior year with us at Konoha High tomorrow," Sakura answered as she raised her cup to her lips.

"Yup!" Naruto confirmed. "I was really nervous about tomorrow. My dad basically dragged me to this bonfire so that I could meet some people before school started. I didn't want to come at first, but now that I'm here, I'm glad he forced me to, or else I never would've made some cool friends to hang with," Naruto explained, his hands hanging between his knees as he turned to give Hinata another grin.

"Hey, you know Kiba and I live here, so you wouldn't have been alone regardless, idiot," Shikamaru interjected, flicking some sand at his friend.

"You sure you want to play that game, Nara?" Naruto cautioned, raising his eyebrows mischievously as he covered his face from the sand.

"Nah, it's too troublesome," Shikamaru replied lazily, setting his cup into the soil before propping himself up with both of his hands.

"You're no fun, Shikamaru," Naruto shot back teasingly before standing up and turning to Hinata. "Hey, you want to ditch these bums and dance with me?"

"I'm not a bum! I just want to take it easy," Sakura retorted, making a face at Naruto before laughing.

"Who takes it easy at a _bonfire party_?" Naruto asked in disbelief, quirking an eyebrow dubiously.

"I do," Shikamaru answered with a shrug.

"My point exactly! You're both bums. Let's go dance, Hinata." Naruto grabbed Hinata's unoccupied hand and, oblivious to her (elated) astonishment, he dragged her onto the makeshift dance floor.

* * *

"So what do you think of Naruto?" Shikamaru asked as he and Sakura watched the two others disappear through the crowd of people.

Sakura faced Shikamaru and shrugged, taking a few sips of her soda and pondering the question before deciding on an answer. "He seems interesting. And loud. Definitely loud," she answered with a chuckle.

"Oh for sure, he's been like that for as long as I've known him," Shikamaru said with a grin.

"He's pretty funny, too. He just seems like he'd be a good friend." Sakura shrugged again before raising the cup to her lips once more.

"He's a really good friend, trust me," Shikamaru replied as he turned his head and looked around at the other people walking around them.

There was a brief pause in their conversation as Sakura debated whether or not to ask the question that had been nagging at her mind since she was first introduced to Naruto. She decided to throw caution to the wind and ask anyway.

"I know that you said it was for personal reasons, and I know it's none of my business, but I can't help but wonder…" Sakura began hesitantly. "Why did Naruto move away in the first place?"

The question took Shikamaru by surprise. He stared at Sakura, mulling over how he should answer, before expelling a sigh. "I could tell you if I wanted to, but in all honesty, it's not my place to share. Naruto will tell you when he thinks the time is right, but for now, since he barely knows you, it'll probably take him a while until he lets you in on that."

Sakura frowned in disappointment, but she nodded quietly. "That's understandable." While Shikamaru hadn't answered her question at all, it had certainly raised her curiosity even more. By the way he had replied to her, however, she got the impression that this wasn't something to go poking her nose into, so she decided it'd be best to be patient and wait for Naruto to open up all on his own.

"So what do you think of them?" Shikamaru asked, raising his eyebrows inquisitively at Sakura.

"What do I think of who?" Sakura's brows knitted in confusion.

"Naruto and Hinata. They seem to be getting along pretty well, if you ask me."

The statement surprised Sakura. All she could do was shrug, because she wasn't entirely sure as to how else she should respond.

Shikamaru studied Sakura for a moment before speaking again. "Then again, you and Naruto seemed to have really connected, too."

A laugh bubbled up at the back of Sakura's throat, and soon she found herself shaking her head. "Like I said earlier, Shikamaru. He seems like he'd be a really good friend. Emphasis on the word _friend_."

"Alright, alright, I get it," Shikamaru shrugged, holding his hands up in defeat. "It's not like any other guy could ever compete with Sasuke. At least in your eyes, anyway."

Sakura's cheeks instantly turned a bright shade of crimson, her eyes widening at Shikamaru. "W-w-what?" she stammered, mortified.

"Oh c'mon, Sakura. You don't have to play dumb with me. It doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to notice your attentiveness when it comes to him," Shikamaru said with a roll of his eyes. "Besides, it's not like you're the only one who's got their eyes set on him."

"I don't know what you're t-talking about, Shikamaru," Sakura replied shortly, refusing to meet his steady gaze. She heard him sigh in resignation. A few quiet moments passed before he spoke again.

"Where the hell did Kiba and Ino go?" Shikamaru asked, more to himself than to Sakura, though she had just begun to wonder the same thing.

* * *

"Thanks for coming on this walk with me," Ino purred as she rested her hand on Kiba's forearm.

After the two of them had departed from the group, they spent the evening ambling around the beach, snacking on different foods and drinks with the occasional dancing in between. Now they were taking a break, sitting on the shore and watching as the gentle waves lapped at their feet. Ino was having the time of her life and, if the smile on Kiba's face was any indication, so was he.

"You're welcome, Ino," Kiba replied, tilting his head as he offered her a friendly smile.

"You know," the blonde began, inhaling deeply as the refreshing ocean breeze caressed her face. "I've been having a really great time. With you, I mean."

"I've been having a great time with you, too." Akamaru, who had been splashing around in the water, came bounding up at them and pounced on Ino's feet playfully, nibbling and licking her toes. Kiba laughed. "And it looks like Akamaru's been having fun, too."

Ino giggled at the cheerful puppy, bending forward to pick him up and planting kisses on his soft head. "You're so cute, Akamaru!" Ino cooed, grinning as he returned her kisses with warm, wet ones of his own.

"He seems to really like you," Kiba mused with a fond smile.

"I like him too," Ino grinned, massaging Akamaru's ears. They both grew quiet as they watched the puppy close his eyes and lean his head into Ino's hand, obviously enjoying her touch. The blonde peeked up at Kiba from the corner of her eye, her heart racing as she gave herself a mental pep-talk. _You can do this, Ino._ Swallowing nervously, she turned to look at Kiba. "I… I like _you_ too, you know," she confessed, eyeing him shyly.

Kiba looked down at her, astonished by the sudden proclamation. He opened his mouth as if to respond, but he was speechless. Ino decided to pluck up her courage and leaned forward slowly, melding her soft lips with his. At first, he didn't respond to the contact. After a few seconds, though, his mouth began to move against hers and, with a new surge of confidence, she raised the hand she was using to pet Akamaru and rested it on Kiba's cheek. The move seemed to have crossed some invisible boundary, however, because he suddenly pulled away and scrambled to his feet, stepping back to put some distance between them.

"I like you too, Ino," Kiba began, his chocolate eyes darting around, reluctant to rest on the stunned girl sitting in the sand.

"Then it works out perfectly," Ino replied, her eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. "So what's the problem?"

Kiba heaved a sigh as he combed his hair with his fingers. "I like you, Ino, but… not in the way that you want me to." He finally met her gaze. An awkward smile curved his mouth when he dealt the final blow. "I have feelings for another girl… For, um, Hinata…"

Ino sucked in a sharp breath. Gritting her teeth together, she turned away from Kiba and stared fiercely out into the sea, refusing to give him another glance.

"You're not going to cry, are you?" he asked hesitantly, trying to get a good look at Ino's face.

She angled herself in a way where he couldn't see her expression before promptly snapping, "_No_." And it was the truth. There was a very short list of things that Ino cried over, and being rejected by boys wasn't on it.

"Oh, okay… Good..." Kiba nodded uncomfortably, scratching the back of his neck with one hand. "Do you think that maybe you could keep this between us? Hinata doesn't know and I want to be able to tell her myself." He was well aware of just how selfish his request was, but the thought of Ino telling Hinata about how he rejected her because of his feelings for her left a cold pit of dread in his stomach.

"Fine, Kiba. Go away already." Akamaru jumped up at Ino's chest, nuzzling his wet nose against her neck and whining at her noticeable change in mood. "Not now, Akamaru," she murmured, nudging him away gently before bringing her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them.

"Come on, Akamaru," Kiba beckoned and, without another word, Ino was left alone to brood over her thoughts.

* * *

"You really know how to dance, Hinata!" Naruto panted, wiping away the sweat beading on his forehead as they made their way to the drinks table. They each grabbed a cup and served themselves something to rehydrate with.

"You've got some good moves yourself," Hinata giggled, her face flushed from both the dancing and the compliment.

Ever since she and Naruto had gotten on the dance floor, he had nothing less than fun. While he wasn't the best dancer (and neither was she, for that matter) he certainly knew how to make her laugh, and to say that she was enjoying herself with him would be an understatement.

"Oh, my moves are nothing compared to that other guy we saw. Y'know, the one who moved like this?" Naruto broke out into some awkward jerking movements, perfectly imitating someone they saw who had a particularly interesting dancing routine.

Hinata nearly choked on her drink as she dissolved into a fit of laughter. "Oh, that was great," she breathed, wiping a tear away and doing her best to regain her breath.

Grinning, Naruto returned to Hinata's side before nodding his head towards the beach. "Let's go sit down for a while. I'm beat."

Nodding, Hinata followed Naruto to the shore, plopping down beside him with a sigh.

"I really am glad that I came to this bonfire," Naruto admitted, glancing at Hinata and smiling at her. "I never would've known that I'd meet some pretty great people. You're probably the most fun, to be honest." He playfully nudged her shoulder with his, his words eliciting a flattered smile from the dark-haired girl.

"Ino is the most fun, in all honesty," Hinata said. "You just caught her on a day where she's got her mind on someone."

Naruto chuckled. "I can tell. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that she's got the hots for Kiba, though I'm not entirely sure he feels the same about her."

"Oh, he will," Hinata nodded confidently. "Didn't you see her? She's gorgeous, she's fun, she's got a great sense of humor, and plus, she's really confident. All of the things most guys look for in a girl, or so I've been told."

Raising his eyebrows interestedly, Naruto asked, "And who said that?"

"Shikamaru did. But I knew she was all of that way before he did. That's why she's got boys wrapped around her pinky like it's no big deal," Hinata explained, raising her plastic cup to her lips and taking a few gulps.

"And is Sakura the same way as Ino?" Naruto inquired.

Hinata glanced at the blond in surprise before slowly answering, "No. They have more differences than similarities."

"Oh?" he asked nonchalantly. "Like what?"

Hinata had a feeling she knew where this conversation was going, and for a reason she couldn't explain, she felt chagrined. "Sakura is very smart. She has one of the top five GPAs out of all of the students at Konoha High. She's also loyal and protective and always has the best advice. While she may not be the person to go to for comfort, she's really good at listening."

Naruto nodded silently to himself, tilting his head back to gaze up at the glittering stars in the velvet night sky.

Hinata stared down at the sand beneath her feet, tracing her fingers along the cool soil and leaving behind random patterns. She debated whether or not to ask him if he had any interest in her best friend, but before she could say anything, he answered her question for her.

"I know this may be a weird request since we've only just met and all, but do you think you could put in a good word for me with Sakura?" Naruto asked, looking down at Hinata with hopeful eyes. "She seems like a really cool chick and I wouldn't mind getting to know her better."

It took Hinata a few seconds, but she looked up at Naruto and gave him a smile, though it was a little strained. "Sure," she said with a nod. "She's really great. I can promise you that much, so you're not wrong in taking an interest in her."

"Awesome! Thank you, Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed, reaching over and pulling her into a tight hug. "You're an awesome friend, you know that?" He leaned back and, with his blue eyes dancing in excitement, gave her a huge grin that poked a painful hole into her chest. She couldn't say anything, so all she did was smile up at him.

Thankfully, at that moment, Neji approached them. "Hinata, it's time to go home." Her cousin's pale violet hues stared down at Naruto with a severity that left him taken aback. "Who is this?" he asked her without taking his eyes off of Naruto.

"Oh, this is Naruto. He's friends with Kiba and Shikamaru," Hinata explained quickly, trying to diffuse the quickly escalating situation. Naruto was staring up at Neji was just as much intensity and, by the looks of it, he seemed to have the same short fuse her cousin possessed. "He recently moved back to town, and he's my _friend_." At that, Neji turned his gaze to Hinata and sighed, nodding as he held out his hand to help her up from the ground.

"Well tell your friend that we've got to go. Uncle told me to take you home ten minutes ago, but I wanted you to have some more fun so I let you be. Come on, let's go get Sakura and Ino."

Hinata took Neji's hand and stood before smiling down at Naruto apologetically. "I'll see you at school."

"Bye, Hinata," Naruto said with a wave of his hand, smiling at her until she and Neji were out of sight.

* * *

It didn't take long for them to find the two other girls, and once everyone said their goodbyes, they began to make their way back to the Hyuga mansion.

"So? How was your night, guys?" Hinata asked Sakura and Ino, surprised by the uncharacteristic silence and at the fact that she was the one who had to break it.

"It was fun," Sakura said with a simple shrug.

"It was crappy," Ino replied shortly, staring straight ahead with a passive expression on her face. This shocked the two other girls. Sakura and Hinata exchanged a surprised glance, their eyebrows raised in confusion at Ino's dry statement.

"Really?" Sakura asked carefully. "You were gone for a pretty long time, so I thought it was going well."

Ino heaved a sigh. "I'll tell you guys later, so let's just not talk about it right now, okay?"

Hinata and Sakura traded another glance, a worried one this time, before nodding. "Alright."

And without another word from anyone, the four of them walked along in silence.


	3. The Art of Forgiveness

Naruto heaved a sigh as he watched Hinata walk away with some guy he didn't recognize. Then again, he didn't recognize a lot of people in this town, but as far as he could tell, the two were related. _Still, it doesn't excuse the fact that he was a total jerkoff_, Naruto grumbled mentally as he eased himself onto his back and stared up at the night sky. _It's not like I had my hand up her shirt or anything._ Neither one of the two boys had said a single word to each other, but guys in general had an entirely different method of communication compared to girls. The female gender liked to talk. _A lot_. At least, in Naruto's opinion. But to him, guys were simple creatures of instinct. The way they dealt with things the majority of the time was through eye contact, and if that didn't work, fists came into play. That's what Jiraiya always told him, anyway. Abiding by that philosophy was what gave Naruto the reputation that he had before he moved back to Konoha City. Out of town, he was notorious for picking fights and having a violent streak, though that wasn't always the case. All he ever did was protect himself; very rarely did he ever instigate something, unless it came to protecting one of his friends or whatever girlfriend he had at the time. Other than that, he only raised his fists against anyone who came looking for a fight, whether to knock him off of his nonexistent high horse or just to earn the bragging rights for beating up _the_ Naruto Uzumaki (though that never happened). But whatever name he had made for himself back there didn't matter anymore; he had grown so tired of having to prove himself to everyone that he eventually gave up and just started standing up for himself.

Although Ino, Sakura, and Hinata had already left the bonfire party, it was still going strong. Teenagers were starting to wander down by the shoreline in couples, giggling and kissing and whispering. When two people locked in a particularly heated make out session nearly fell over him, he took it as his cue to return to Shikamaru and Kiba.

"Hey, man. Where've you been?" Kiba asked when Naruto met up with them. He was lounging against a log, chewing on a corndog while Akamaru was rolling around in the sand.

"Just around," Naruto replied with a shrug before he plopped back down on the sand beside Shikamaru, who seemed to not have moved much from his spot the entire evening. "How'd things go with that Ino girl? Did you hit any bases?" The blond wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, to which Kiba responded with a punch to his shoulder.

"Quit it," Kiba grumbled as Naruto massaged the sore area. After a moment, he finally answered, "Only first base." Shikamaru raised his eyebrows at that, though the rest of his countenance remained composed. "It's kind of complicated," Kiba tried to explain.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You either made out with her or you didn't, Kiba. What's so complicated about that?"

Shikamaru sighed. "You shouldn't lead people on like that. _You_ know she likes you._ I_ know she likes you. I can definitely promise you that Sakura and Hinata know that she likes you. Hell, I'm sure the whole world can tell." He shook his head. "Did you at least let her down easy?"

"Whoa, wait, hold up," Naruto blurted, raising his hands. "You mind slowing it down? I don't have a single clue on what you guys are talking about here."

"Keep up, Naruto. It's not that hard," Kiba said with a roll of his eyes. "I may or may not have already been, uh, _informed_ by someone else on the fact that she likes me. I kind of already figured that I'm not into her, but I flirted with her anyway to see if maybe things could go places and tonight she kissed me." Kiba shrugged indifferently, though secretly he felt slightly ashamed of himself as to how he handled that situation. "I might've told her that… I liked someone else."

At that, Shikamaru groaned. "You've _got_ to be kidding me, Kiba. What did she say to that?"

Kiba grimaced. "She didn't exactly say much afterwards. I kind of kept rambling and I may have accidentally said that I was into Hinata."

"Okay, even _I'm_ not dumb enough to do something like that," Naruto interjected, eyeing Kiba in amusement. "Congrats, bro. It looks like you buried yourself an early grave. Can I be in charge of writing your eulogy?"

"Ha ha, very funny," Kiba shot back sarcastically, though in reality he was apprehensive and very, very worried. By Naruto's and Shikamaru's reactions, so far he's done nothing but screw up. _Since when did Naruto have better skills with girls than me? Or any skills, for that matter?_

Shikamaru picked up the plastic cup Hinata had brought him earlier and drained the rest of its contents before speaking. "Dude, you told Ino that you had feelings for Hinata, _her best friend_. Do you have any idea how messed up that is?"

"Whatever," Kiba groaned, flicking the rest of his corndog into the sand where Akamaru eagerly pounced on it. "Can we just talk about anything else? Literally _anything else_? The last thing I want is to be lectured by my two best friends on how much I suck with girls."

Naruto threw his head back as he laughed. "That's the understatement of the century."

"Did you get anywhere with Hinata? Since you're so good with girls and all," Kiba retorted as he turned to scowl at the towering bonfire a few feet away from them.

The question left Naruto puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"He's referring to the fact that you dragged Hinata off somewhere for quite a while," Shikamaru answered in a bored voice.

"Oh, that? We just went to dance and then we talked. I was asking her about Sakura until that douchebag with an attitude problem showed up and told her that they were leaving." Naruto grimaced at the memory.

"What douchebag?" Shikamaru asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"This guy with long black hair and the same kind of eyes as her," Naruto explained vaguely.

"Dude, don't go messing with him," Kiba piped up, turning back to the conversation abruptly. "That's Neji Hyuga, her cousin. He's a real hard-ass, so don't go picking fights with him just because you don't like his attitude. Not many people do but they avoid him instead of confront him about it."

"Oh please," Naruto scoffed, rolling his shoulders and stretching his neck casually. "I'll bet I can take him any day."

"Whatever, macho man," Shikamaru said in a mocking tone, rolling his eyes at Naruto's little show. His smirk soon dissolved into a frown. "You've got a bigger problem on your hands."

At that, alarm bells went off in Naruto's head; whenever Shikamaru became serious, he knew something was up. While he may have always been laidback and disinterested in most things, he had a knack for sniffing out trouble before it happened. "What kind of problem?" Naruto asked slowly, his eyebrows pulling over his eyes in concern.

Shikamaru stared at him for a moment, seemingly debating something in his head, before he let out a breath. "Sakura was asking about why you left Konoha."

At that, Naruto froze. His heart, however, quickly picked up its pace as his brain ran through all of the memories he had yet to discard. There were many things that ticked the blue-eyed boy off, but if you really wanted to get under his skin, all you had to do was ask about his history. Naruto preferred to live in the moment instead of dwell on the past but, in the end, it was his way of trying to run away from what he had to go through growing up. "And what did you say?" he asked quietly as he turned his restless eyes to the equally restless waves.

"I told her that the only person who could ever answer her question is you," Shikamaru replied, watching Naruto carefully. "I don't think you'll have to worry about her asking, though, because Sakura isn't dumb. She could tell that what she doesn't know isn't meant to be taken lightly. So, for now, I think you're safe."

Slowly, Naruto nodded. "Thanks, man." While he and Shikamaru haven't spent much time together throughout the last few years, the two things that had always remained consistent about him were his reliability and his trustworthiness. Naruto offered Kiba and Shikamaru a small smile before easing himself onto his feet. "I'm gonna bail. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Shikamaru and Kiba waved goodbye to Naruto as he walked away.

_I don't want this crap to start up again_, he thought with uneasiness, stuffing his hands into his pockets and heaving a sigh. He had figured that returning to the city where _it_ happened would stir up unwanted memories and questions, but he didn't think it would start so soon. Naruto blew out another breath at the prospect of having to recount the one thing he'd do anything to forget, the one thing that seemed like such a big deal to everyone else. _Whatever_, he grumbled internally. _I'll just make up some story to get people off of my back._

The farther Naruto wandered away from the beach, the more he felt like someone was watching him. His skin crawled at the idea of having to fight someone in unfamiliar territory, but his instincts were beginning to take over, so he knew if push came to shove, he'd be prepared.

A hand came down hard on Naruto's shoulder and gripped him tightly before he felt himself being spun around. Without hesitation, he shot his fist forward, but whoever it was that was attacking him dodged. Without warning, Naruto's head was locked into a pair of powerful arms before he was thrown down to the ground and subdued.

"Naruto! Relax! It's me!"

At the sound of the guy's voice, Naruto stopped grappling. He sounded eerily familiar, but as his brain struggled to make the connection, he continued drawing a blank.

"Uh… Do I know you?" Naruto asked dumbly as he did his best to free himself from the chokehold. The question seemed to have caught the guy off guard because Naruto was able to hook his elbow into his gut. He swore before pulling away and taking a few steps back until he was standing under the illumination of a lamppost. When Naruto stood and got a good look at the guy, his eyes widened. "_Sasuke_?"

* * *

When Hinata, Ino, Sakura, and Neji arrived at the Hyuga mansion, there was a notable tension in the air. Most of it was directed at Neji for "bringing the girls so late", but once he was gone, Hinata got the feeling that her father saw her as equally responsible as Neji for their tardiness.

"Your dad is a real bummer, you know that?" Ino grumbled once they finally reached Hinata's room. "For a guy who hosts city events, anyway."

"Ino!" Sakura hissed, glancing around to confirm that no one else had heard her. "You're a guest here! What's the matter with you?"

"Quit being so uptight for once, Sakura," Ino retorted with a roll of her eyes. "We're in Hinata's room. No one is going to hear me but you guys."

"Seriously, what's your problem? Ever since we left the beach, you've been nothing but grouchy. Cut it out." Sakura stared at Ino for a moment to drive her point home before plopping down onto Hinata's bed.

While Sakura and Ino argued back and forth, Hinata wandered into her sizeable walk-in closet and started picking out blankets, pillows, and pajamas for each of them. It was a tradition of theirs to spend the night before the first day of school at Hinata's house and arrive together the next day. It wasn't something either one of them had planned, but rather something that fate had just thrown together, much like they had been.

"Are you guys going to take a shower now or in the morning?" Hinata asked as she returned to her friends, tossing an armful of sleepover stuff onto the bed.

"Morning," Ino and Sakura said in unison before they glanced at each other and grinned.

"You guys are such dorks," Hinata giggled before walking into her bathroom to do her nightly routine. After washing her face, brushing her teeth, and dressing into something more snuggly, the raven-haired girl returned to her bedroom feeling refreshed. She noticed immediately, however, that Sakura wasn't there. "Where did Sakura go?" Hinata asked Ino as she pulled her purple beanbag closer to the bed and collapsed into it.

"She went downstairs to go get us some hot cocoa and marshmallows," Ino replied distractedly as she inspected her fingernails with distaste.

"Oh, okay." Hinata quirked her mouth into a frown as she debated whether or not she should ask Ino about Kiba yet, but by the unusual fascination the blonde appeared to have with her nails, she got the feeling that now wasn't the time. Instead, she allowed her eyes to wander around her bedroom. Despite the fact that the Hyugas were one of the wealthiest families in the city, Hinata's room was as humble as they come—for a rich kid, anyway. The king-sized mattress, the canopy, the drapes, even the bed sheets were unnecessarily extravagant. While her family relished in the perks of being affluent, Hinata preferred the simplicities life had to offer. It was another one of the many things she couldn't see eye-to-eye with her father and sister.

"So Naruto seems pretty cool," Ino chatted, breaking the silence and Hinata's reverie.

"He really is, though you wouldn't know since you spent the entire night so absorbed with Kiba," Hinata teased, winking at the blonde.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Which was a total mistake on my part, but whatever! I was just saying because Sakura said that you two seemed to have hit it off pretty well."

At the mention of Sakura, Hinata remembered why she left the beach disappointed. She was quiet for a few seconds as she stared down at her hands before murmuring, "Yeah, we did. He pretty much said that we're going to be great friends."

When the words came out of Hinata's mouth, Ino finally met her steady lilac gaze. _So it looks like I'm not the only one who got dumped in the friend zone tonight_, she thought to herself, eyeing the raven-haired girl sympathetically. "Same here," Ino admitted with a sigh. "Looks like guys who like to cut off chunks of girls' hair aren't worth pursuing after all." A wry smile tugged at her lips as she continued with, "Someone should tell him that he should never consider becoming a beautician."

"Rewind and start the story over!" came Sakura's voice as she elbowed the door open and walked in with three steaming mugs. "You guys know we're not supposed to talk about stuff unless we're all here."

Ino and Hinata scrambled to help Sakura with the hot mugs. It wasn't until the door was closed, everyone was comfortable, and they had a chocolate mustache each that they started talking about their night. When Ino was recounting the humiliating scene between her and Kiba, however, she omitted an important little detail: the fact that he confessed to liking her best friend. Ino didn't blame Hinata at all for it because she knew very well that it wasn't her fault. She_ did_ blame Kiba entirely, however, for the way he rejected her. When Hinata shared a somewhat similar story, she didn't leave out the part where Naruto asked for her help with Sakura.

"He asked you that?" Sakura inquired in a surprised and flattered tone.

It wasn't the reaction Hinata was hoping for, but she was a selfless person so all she did was smile and nod. "Y-yeah. He's really sweet and he's a lot of fun to be with, so if he asks you out, I think you should give him a chance and say yes."

Ino wasn't fooled. She looked at Hinata with soft, sad eyes, both relieved and disappointed that even when it came to boys, she always puts her friends' happiness before her own. On normal days, Ino always lectured Hinata to think of herself more, but in a family where greediness seemed to be the most common trait, she just couldn't do it. Hinata was the black sheep of her family in almost every way possible, and while her father put a lot of strain on her for it, she shouldered it without a single complaint.

Sakura frowned thoughtfully. "But… Sasuke…"

"You're still into that guy?" Ino scoffed. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I love you to death, but I'm beginning to wonder if he's attracted to anything or anyone at all. If he's had girlfriends—or boyfriends! You never know—then they were kept on the down low. Either that or he's more straight-edged than you and refuses to date until, like, college or something."

"Thanks for the support, Ino," Sakura grumbled sarcastically. "I don't know. We're friendly, but nothing like how you are with Shikamaru or how Hinata is with Kiba. As for Naruto," she added as an afterthought. "I don't really know if we would be anything other than friends. I don't know him that well, anyway."

"That's what dates are for, dummy. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one here?" Ino rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but what I _really_ want to know about him is why he left Konoha at all," Sakura admitted. "I've asked Shikamaru, but by his answer, it looks like it's a lot more serious than just a simple 'my parents got a new job out of town'. I doubt it would be something he'll talk about on a first date."

"Then maybe you should wait until he's ready to tell you himself," Hinata said with a shrug, though now that Sakura brought it up, she was interested in knowing herself.

"That's what Shikamaru said." Sakura sighed. "It's getting late. We should go to sleep now if we want a good night's rest and a decent amount of time in the morning to get ready for school tomorrow."

"Alright _mom_," Ino teased.

After the girls finished off their hot chocolate and got comfortable in bed, they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"What the hell were you doing lurking like that?" Naruto grumbled as he brushed off his clothes.

"I wasn't lurking, dumbass," Sasuke retorted with a roll of his eyes. "I called your name but you ignored me so I went up to you."

At that, Naruto didn't say anything because he knew he had been lost in thought. He just stood there and eyed the other guy wearily. Sasuke Uchiha was another friend he had made before moving away from Konoha, though not many people knew this. In fact, they used to be neighbors. It was because of his family that he moved away at all. He didn't blame Sasuke directly, but he couldn't help but harbor some resentment against him. It was because of that bitterness that they couldn't maintain a long-distance friendship. Seeing him again was very nostalgic; his face resurfaced a lot of bittersweet memories but, at the end of the day, he was just a walking reminder of the pain he still dealt with to this day.

"I'd love to reminisce about old times, Sasuke, but not as much as I'd love _not_ to." Naruto's usually lively eyes remained distant as he continued staring at him.

Sasuke didn't respond for a moment, his expression entirely passive, until finally he said, "I don't want to reminisce either, Naruto."

Naruto released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Combing his hair back with his fingers, he edged past Sasuke and continued walking in the direction of his new house. "Then what do you want?"

Sasuke fell into step with Naruto easily, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he matched his pace. "To catch up. To see if we could be friends again like we used to be. Is that so hard to believe?"

Naruto glanced at Sasuke from the corner of his eye before focusing on the path ahead of them. "No, not really. But do you honestly believe that it's going to be easy? After everything?"

At that, Sasuke turned his head and looked at Naruto. "You still haven't learned how to forgive and forget, have you?"

Naruto's hands tightened into fists, gritting his teeth together as he spat out, "Obviously not."

Sasuke sighed. "Can you at least try? It's not like any of that had been my fault, but you seem to blame me anyway."

Naruto snapped. He gripped Sasuke by his collar and shoved him roughly against one of the lampposts before throwing his fist into his stomach several times. "Fuck you!" he shouted into his face. "Do you have any idea how hard the last few years have been because of your parents? They screwed up my life! They took away the two people I need most in my life like it was no big deal!"

As Naruto's fist hesitated, Sasuke took advantage of it to shove the blond away from him, catching him off balance. Naruto stumbled but almost regained his footing until Sasuke pushed him to the ground and crouched over him. He wasted no time pummeling his hand into Naruto's face, his elbow jerking high into the air before his fist shot down and connected. "No, Naruto! Fuck _you_!" Sasuke yelled back between punches. "You can't blame me for what my parents did! How the hell is it my fault that they decided to not pay attention that night? Why the hell are you blaming me for my parents driving recklessly? I'm sorry that they killed your mom and dad! But you need to stop antagonizing me when I had nothing to do with it!" Breathing heavily, Sasuke shoved away from Naruto and stood, looking down at him with a ferocious anger.

There was a red trickle of liquid dribbling down Naruto's nose. When Sasuke finally relented, he spit out whatever blood had found its way into his mouth and struggled to his feet, massaging his jaw once he was off of the ground. His left eye was throbbing and as he gently prodded the skin with his fingertips, he could tell that he was going to have a bruise tomorrow. He wiped his nose with his sleeve and spit again before finally turning to Sasuke. He knew perfectly well that he was in the wrong for taking out his anger on him, for pinning the responsibility of his parents' death onto his shoulders. But now that he had finally, _finally_ released all of that pent up animosity, the heavy weight that he'd been lugging around on his chest for years on end began to lighten.

Both of their breathing had started to slow when Naruto spoke again. "I'm sorry." It was short and simple, but it was genuine, and that had enough meaning in and of itself.

The apology took Sasuke by surprise, however, and as he slowly began to nod, he said, "I'm sorry too." And that was the end of that.

"Good," Naruto sighed, wiping at his nose again. The pain throbbing in his face reminded him that he needed to get home. He mulled over the thought of bringing Sasuke to his house, but when he saw that his fist was split from all of the punching, he made his decision. "Come with me," Naruto beckoned as he began to make his way home again. "There's someone I want you to meet. Besides, I don't want you going home looking like you just got roughed up. The last thing I need is for your older brother to come looking for me."

The thought of Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, beating the living crap out of Naruto made him laugh. "Yeah, that'd probably be bad." He was curious to know who it was that Naruto wanted him to meet, though, but as they walked in silence, he was just relieved to know that he had his friend back.

When they arrived at Naruto's house, a man with long white hair answered the door. An amused smile curved his lips at the sight of the two boys. "Come on in. Let's patch you guys up."

It wasn't until Naruto had a pack of frozen peas to his face and Sasuke's hand was being treated when the introductions were finally made.

"Dad, this is Sasuke," Naruto began with a wave of his hand. "Sasuke, this is Jiraiya. He's basically my second father."


	4. A Change in the Tide

Sasuke visited for only about an hour before he left Naruto's house, though it certainly felt much longer than that due to the hint of awkwardness that still lingered between them. When the front door slammed shut behind him, a moment of unstirred silence encompassed the blond teenager and his perceptive caretaker, which was promptly broken by a heavy sigh.

"Out of all of the people you could've brought home, Sasuke was the last one I expected to see on the other side of the door," Jiraiya commented casually, studying his godson with unreadable eyes.

Naruto shrugged as he lowered the bag of frozen peas from his bruised eye. The tension that had lodged itself into his shoulders when he first saw Sasuke still hadn't eased. Although he had forgiven him, his presence still impacted him in a way that he despised. Naruto was well aware that holding his childhood best friend responsible for something that his parents did was entirely unreasonable, and even more so now that they would be attending Konoha High together. The one thing that Naruto had sworn to himself before they moved was that he would shed all grudges and leave them in the past, where they were rightfully meant to be. However, he hadn't realized that it was much easier to make a resolution than to carry through with it. Despite that, he was determined to regain that sense of comfortable familiarity that he and Sasuke used to have when they were younger, even if it took them all year to reach that point.

"Is he the one that gave you that eye?" Jiraiya asked, gesturing at Naruto with the pair of chopsticks positioned in his grip before returning them to his instant ramen.

"Yeah," Naruto answered over his godfather's slurping. "Things got, uh, heated when we first started talking."

"Oh?" Jiraiya raised his eyebrows interestedly. The truth of the matter was that they were both perfectly content living their lives outside of Konoha City, though each had their own reason for it. It wasn't until Naruto earned the reputation of a troublemaker that Jiraiya began to worry about him, and once his behavior had drawn his attention, he couldn't stop noticing the details. It had surprised him to find just how often Naruto's smiles failed to ring true. That was when Jiraiya decided that they needed a change of pace, a somewhat new environment, to move Naruto into scenery that was fresh, though not entirely unfamiliar and give him a chance to reconnect with old friends and find an outlet or a resolution for the hardships that still weighed him down. And while Jiraiya had hoped that Naruto and Sasuke would be able to make amends and carry on the way they used to, this wasn't the way he had pictured them going about it.

Naruto hesitated before answering the unspoken question. "He brought up my parents…"

Jiraiya didn't say anything to that. He finished off the rest of his ramen before picking up Naruto's and Sasuke's empty bowls from the dining table and taking them to the kitchen sink. When he returned to where Naruto lounged, he leaned against the kitchen's doorframe and stared at him speculatively. Naruto was gazing at a row of pictures lined along the shelf above the fireplace, and by the faraway look in his eyes, he was lost in some childhood memory. At least, Jiraiya assumed so, because the photographs he had been so captivated by were of him and his parents when they were still alive. Jiraiya had been through more than his fair share of hardships in his life, but it wasn't until he became a parent—or as close to one as he currently was—that he realized that pain left a much smoother cut when he watched Naruto suffer through it.

With another heavy sigh, Jiraiya seated himself beside his godson and placed a firm hand onto his shoulder, dispelling whatever image his mind had conjured him into. "What I'm about to tell you is something I should've said a long time ago," he began.

That captured Naruto's attention instantaneously. His bright blue eyes, while obviously curious, held an undertone of caution and an almost imperceptible trace of fear that disheartened Jiraiya to the core; if there was one thing that he could wish for, it would be the ability to give Naruto the life that was unrightfully stolen from him, if that meant he could be as carefree and adolescent as most normal people his age.

The blond nodded, urging Jiraiya to continue. He sighed. "Your parents aren't the only ones who lost their lives that night."

At that, a shock went straight through him. "Wait… What do you mean?" Naruto asked slowly, his eyebrows pulling together. "I thought Sasuke's parents were alive and well at the hospital. I remember a doctor telling him and his brother that they would be fine."

Jiraiya shook his head. "They made it out of the car accident pretty much in one piece, save for a few nasty scrapes and bruises. They were unconscious when they arrived at the hospital, but the thing is… they never woke up."

Naruto's jaw slackened as the full force of what he had just heard dawned on him. Suddenly, he was six years old again, sitting anxiously beside Sasuke and Itachi at the Konoha City Hospital as they waited for someone to inform them on their parents' conditions.

The doctor had approached the Uchiha brothers first, with good news: their mother and father were going to be just fine.

_-Can we go see them?_

-_No, not yet._

_-Why not?_

-_They're still sleeping but they should be waking up soon, not to worry. They were very lucky._

But when Naruto's turn came, the conversation went in an entirely different direction.

_-Are mommy and daddy sleeping too?_

-_Not… not quite, sweetheart._

_-So does that mean I can go see them?_

-_I'm afraid not._

_-But why not?_

-_Your mommy and daddy weren't so lucky, kiddo… I'm sorry._

Naruto's mind had refused to grasp what everyone had been trying to tell him. It wasn't until Jiraiya had arrived a couple of hours later that the situation finally registered. He had spent a whole three days crying, but once his tear ducts had dried, not a single tear ever watered his eyes again.

Naruto raked his fingers through his blond hair several times as his brain processed this new information. "I'm such an asshole," he groaned, dropping his head into his palms and slouching in his seat. "This entire time, I thought I was the only one who… Ugh…" Not once had he ever thought to communicate with Sasuke after he moved away; the thought never failed to leave a breathtaking pain in his stomach as if a professional soccer player had just kicked him there, cleats and all. While during the first few years he didn't know what to make of the feeling, he later realized that it was the product of envy, bitterness, and agony. Because of that, he refused to ever entertain the thought again.

"You didn't know, Naruto," Jiraiya insisted firmly, pulling the blond boy upright. "Don't blame yourself for anything that is out of your control. I told you because I wanted you to realize that you weren't the only one who has been suffering. Are you listening to me?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied gloomily. He looked up at his godfather for a moment before asking, "Are his parents still… unconscious?"

Jiraiya nodded grimly. "Yes. But I don't want you to dwell on it for too long, okay? You'll get wrinkles before I do," he joked in a lame attempt to lighten the heavy atmosphere. "You should be more concerned with school and friends and girls. Speaking of girls, did you meet anyone that caught your eye at that bonfire thing at the beach?" He flexed his eyebrows suggestively. "If you need any help with making the ladies swoon, you know where to find me."

Naruto made a face at that. "Gross. You're probably the last person I'd ever go to for girl advice," he teased, smiling weakly. He appreciated Jiraiya's lighthearted turn in conversation; it was unlike Naruto to be depressed over something for this long, so the playful banter was something he welcomed wholeheartedly.

"Then go to bed!" Jiraiya ordered in fake indignation, composing his expression into a serious one before his mouth curved into a grin moments later.

"Since when do you decide when I go to bed?" Naruto grumbled, making another face at his godfather.

"Since you decided you didn't want to talk about women with me," Jiraiya shot back. "Unless you want to stay up helping me unpack all of these boxes?" With a wide sweep of his arm, he gestured at the several piles of boxes lining the walls and the tables.

With a fake yawn, Naruto stretched his arms above him. "You know what? I think going to bed is a good idea," he said, trying not to grin. "Something about getting punched in the face really wears you out, you know?"

"Yeah, I'll bet it does," Jiraiya said sarcastically before waving Naruto away. "Go get some sleep. You'll need it for the first day of school tomorrow."

They each said their goodnights before the blond made his way to his new bedroom. While they had succeeded in alleviating the somber mood, it didn't erase the heavy thoughts still lingering in each of their minds. That night, Naruto managed to fall asleep, though it was a light and restless slumber.

* * *

The next morning, an aroma of sizzling bacon, frying eggs, and brewing tea wafted its way throughout the Hyuga mansion, stirring awake those who still slept. Ever since her mother got sick six or so years ago, Hinata took over the kitchen duties. Every day, she woke up early (not that she had a problem with it, since she was a morning person) and made breakfast for the entire household, prepared everyone's lunch for the day, and started working on dinner after getting home from school. Something about standing over a busy stove, wielding a spatula, or even simply having an apron tied around her waist rewarded Hinata with a piece of mind that nothing else in the rest of her day could give her.

After brushing their teeth, Sakura and Ino skipped down the stairs and along a couple of hallways until they reached the kitchen. The dining room table had already been set up with an array of breakfast things: jugs of juice and milk, a pot of tea, and plates piled high with pancakes, toast, eggs, and bacon. The table was already prepared with empty plates and glasses; the only thing missing were those who the meal had been cooked for.

"Good morning," Hinata greeted them happily. With her hair tied up into a bun and already dressed in her uniform, she offered her two best friends a warm smile before gesturing at the dining table. "We're having a Western breakfast today, I hope that's okay?" By the ravenous looks in their eyes, it was perfectly fine with them. She was just finishing up making everyone's lunch ten minutes later when her father and her younger sister, Hanabi, made their way into the kitchen. By the curt nod Hinata received, it was clear that her father was still displeased with her. Ino and Sakura noticed the exchange and watched Hinata's smile fade from her expression. With determination, they scarfed down the rest of their breakfast and bade the other Hyugas a good morning before dragging Hinata out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Come on, let's go get ready for school," Ino said, resting a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. The girls still had about two hours until they had to leave for school, and the blonde didn't waste a single second of it. While she normally put a decent amount of effort into her appearance, she was taking extra care to give Kiba a reason to regret rejecting the blue-eyed bombshell; there were plenty of boys who drooled at her feet as it was, and she had every intention of turning Kiba into one of them.

* * *

"Hurry up, Hinata!" her friends called back to her as she sprinted up the slope that led to Konoha High.

"I'm coming!" she yelled back as she hurried along, holding her messenger bag close to her to keep it from bouncing against her hip. Ino ended up taking a little longer than they had time for, so now they were rushing to the school's main quad where the bulletin boards with all of the schedules were posted. The trio finally reached the gates, and as they darted past it and around a corner, Hinata collided face first into a tall, toned figure. Whoever she had run into tried to catch their footing to save them both from falling, but the raven-haired girl threw out a hand to try to regain her balance and ended up throwing them both off of their equilibrium. Luckily, her fall was softened by the person's body, though they got the full impact.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" Hinata apologized profusely as she planted her hands on either side of the person's waist and lifted herself. She looked up, prepared to apologize again, when she noticed a shock of blond hair and a pair of deep blue hues looking down at her in amusement. When she realized that it was Naruto who she had fallen on top of, her face turned into a deep shade of red that would put a ripe tomato to shame. "Oh my gosh," she squeaked as she struggled to stand up. Their legs were so entangled, however, that the attempt only made her fall forward again. As if that wasn't humiliating enough, there was a chorus of snickers around them. Bewildered, Hinata looked around to find all of their friends staring down and giggling at them. If possible, the flame in her cheeks intensified.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked as he looked down at her with an awkward smile. Hinata's gaze swiveled back to him, but every muscle in her body froze when she realized just how close they were. "Uh, Hinata?" Naruto prodded, waving a hand in front of her stunned expression.

Thankfully, at that moment, Ino came to her rescue. With a huge grin on her face, she crouched down and offered Hinata her hand, helping her up when she took it. "Nice one," she whispered excitedly into Hinata's ear, amusement clearly laced into her voice. "I don't know if he noticed your curves last night, but I can tell you right now that he definitely felt the most _prominent_ ones." At the word _prominent_, Ino glanced down at her friend's voluptuous bosom, making it very clear as to what she was hinting at. The words only brought another surge of heat to Hinata's cheeks as she crossed her arms over chest. If she hadn't been so speechless from the entire debacle, she would've diligently countered Ino's statement.

Shyly, Hinata peeked over at Naruto. He wasn't looking at her as he helped himself to his feet, much to her relief. It wasn't until then that she noticed the rugged way he decided to wear his uniform. His tie was hanging loosely around his popped collar, his button-down shirt was untucked and somewhat wrinkly, the first few clasps of his top were undone, a thin black bandana was secured around his forehead, and a long black coat topped it all off. The black eye he sported gave him even more of an edgy look, but it also made his bright blue eyes much more captivating than they already were. _He looks... sexy_, Hinata admitted to herself sheepishly, another light blush making its way to her cheeks.

"Did you see that?"

"Yeah, he attacked her!"

"Someone should go get Neji."

"He'll take care of that thug real quick for putting his hands on Hinata."

A crowd of students was beginning to form around the group of friends; how had they not noticed them before that moment? They were all whispering to each other behind their hands and pointing shamelessly at Naruto and Hinata.

"What the heck?" the lavender-hued girl murmured, pursing her lips in thorough confusion. _Naruto isn't a thug!_ Although, his appearance really gave off that impression, especially the black eye.

"They think Naruto attacked you," Shikamaru said as he pulled up beside her.

"That's ridiculous! He didn't even touch her. It was all an accident," Kiba stated with agitation, giving their peers dirty looks.

Naruto turned his attention to the crowd. When their whispers reached his ears, the amused expression in his eyes hardened severely. "What the hell are you all looking at?" he called out to them. Gasps echoed throughout the crowd, which only served to irritate Naruto even further.

"Go to class. There's nothing to see here," announced a new voice. The group turned to find Sasuke approaching them with a bored expression. At his sudden appearance, the other students visibly relaxed; Sasuke was the captain of Konoha High's jujutsu team and the epitome of popularity (with both males and females), so everyone, including their group of friends, assumed that he would handle Naruto's "violence". Shikamaru and Kiba were prepared to intervene but, much to everyone's shock, Sasuke and Naruto greeted each other instead. Sasuke turned and gave the crowd of onlookers a firm look. "Go away." Those two words held such an authoritative tone that they felt they had no choice but to disperse, so that was exactly what they did.

"He knows Sasuke?" Sakura murmured in surprise, eyeing the two with interest. "How?"

Kiba and Shikamaru watched the pair with curiosity, replying in an astonished tone with, "I have no clue."

Naruto and Sasuke returned to the group after exchanging a few words. "You guys know Sasuke, right?" Naruto asked with a carefree grin.

"We're all acquainted," Shikamaru answered with a shrug.

"That's great. Oh, here, Hinata," Naruto said suddenly as if he had just remembered something. He held out her bag with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about that whole thing earlier. I waved at you and I thought you saw me, so it was all my fault."

Hinata shook her head, doing her best to ignore the curious gazes of their friends. "I-it's okay. I should've been watching where I was going anyway. Thank you," she murmured as she took the bag gratefully.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Naruto asked, leaning in for a closer look at her face. Her cheeks were quickly flushed with a deep scarlet at the sudden proximity. "You're really red." Thoughtfully, he placed a hand on her forehead. "And you're burning up! We should take you to the nurse's office. You might have a fever."

Fervently, Hinata shook her head again. "R-really, I'm okay," she answered breathlessly as he held her gaze with his enthralling blue hues. They stared at each other for a silent moment. As each second passed, Hinata could feel her face getting hotter, but try as she might, she just couldn't look away. The intensity in his eyes was absolutely hypnotizing, and the longer they stared into each other's eyes, the more she felt herself unraveling before him. It felt as if he could see every dark crevice and cranny of her being, parts of her that she's never shared with anyone before. Those bottomless blue eyes held so much power over her with all of their overwhelming depth and emotion. She could feel all of her layers fall away beneath that gaze, and if, at that moment, he said that he could see her soul stripped bare for him, she would believe him.

"Okay, if you say so," Naruto said suddenly, breaking their spell with a lopsided grin.

The bell rang, signaling the students to start moving to their first class. As the group pulled out sheets of paper and started comparing their schedules, they all moved towards the main building. Ino and Sakura were at the front, whispering to each other, with Shikamaru and Kiba walking behind them. Naruto and Sasuke fell into step on either side of Hinata, who made up the rear.

"Here, Ino," Shikamaru said, tapping the blonde's shoulder. "I got your schedule for you."

"Oh, Sakura! I have your schedule," Naruto called out quickly, before bending down to whisper into Hinata's ear, "Did you talk to her for me?" With a weak smile, the raven-haired girl nodded mutely. "Awesome! You're the best, you know that?" He gave her a quick squeeze before running up to the front and falling into step with Sakura and Ino.

Ino glanced over her shoulder at Hinata and threw her a mischievous grin. "You and Naruto are _so _getting married," she mouthed excitedly.

Hinata's face burned as she shook her head vigorously. "He likes Sakura," she mouthed back, pointing covertly at the pair. Ino shook her head and laughed quietly before facing forward again.

"You're playing cupid for him?" Sasuke asked casually, nodding towards a laughing Naruto and Sakura.

Until that moment, Hinata had forgotten that Sasuke was beside her. The question caught her off guard, so all she did was nod embarrassedly and murmur, "Yeah."

"But don't you like him?" he asked, glancing at her curiously.

At that, Hinata's eyes widened and a pink tinge entered her cheeks. "W-what? How do you-"

"It's obvious," he cut her off. "At least, to me it is. It's going to take that dumbass forever to notice your feelings, though. I hope you realize that."

"Oh," was all the raven-haired girl said as she glanced down, her hands tightening nervously around the strap of her messenger bag.

Sasuke and Hinata were well acquainted. That fact was not common knowledge, especially amongst her and her best friends, due to the circumstances of how they met. While the two had been classmates since elementary school and throughout middle and high school, they had never interacted until Hinata's mother was hospitalized at Konoha City Hospital. By pure coincidence, his parents and her mother were roomed right beside each other. He, like she, visited every day, and it wasn't until Hinata had a breakdown outside of her mother's room that he started warming up to her. His parents' condition was something he had never shared with a single soul outside of his family, so when Hinata had discovered that secret part of his life, they developed a mutual understanding because they were both in the same boat. And while they had never interacted outside of the hospital before today, both were perfectly content with their relationship.

"Before I forget, here's your schedule," Sasuke spoke up, breaking Hinata's reverie. He fished out a smoothly folded piece of paper from his pocket and held it out to her.

Mystified, Hinata plucked the piece of folded paper from Sasuke's hand and unfolded it, her eyes scanning her list of classes. "How did you find this?" she asked him, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"I picked it up for you," he answered, shrugging indifferently. That only surprised and confused Hinata further.

"Oh. Well, thank you," she said, offering him a friendly smile.

Sasuke looked at her for a moment before a rare, crooked grin tugged at his lips. "You're welcome."

It was the first time he had ever smiled at Hinata, and as she turned her attention forward, she couldn't help but wonder why, all of a sudden, he had decided to reach out to her outside of the hospital. They had encountered each other in public several times before, but the most that had ever been exchanged between the two was a simple greeting. So why the unexpected change of heart?

She glanced up and noticed a pair of mint green eyes boring into her. Hinata blinked in surprise before she smiled and waved at Sakura, though despite the obvious gesture, she acted as if she didn't even notice. The raven-haired girl gave her best friend a confused look, but all she did was turn her back on her and continue walking forward.

_What the heck just happened?_


	5. If Looks Could Kill

"I sense trouble," Shikamaru murmured to Kiba, his steady eyes trained on a detached-looking Sakura. Her entire demeanor had changed the moment she glanced behind her, not to see the two boys strolling some feet behind her, but at the pair who made up the tail of the group. Shikamaru wanted to peek behind him and see what it was that had altered her disposition so suddenly, but he also had this rule for himself against being nosy.

Kiba peered at his best friend interestedly, his mouth quirking into a curious frown. "What do you mean? What kind of trouble?" He followed Shikamaru's gaze and set his eyes on the back of Sakura's pink head, his frown only deepening when he didn't see anything of concern.

Shikamaru shook his head before shifting his eyes to Kiba. "What's going on behind us?" he asked. "I'll explain everything later."

Kiba studied Shikamaru momentarily before nodding. When he turned to look behind him, he saw a weary Hinata chatting with an unusually attentive Sasuke. At first, the thought of jumping in and putting the raven-haired girl at ease crossed his mind, but the longer he watched them, the more he began to realize that it wasn't Sasuke who had made her uneasy to begin with.

"Nothing is going on," Kiba said when he finally faced forward again. Although his statement rang true, it still confused him as to how carefree Hinata appeared around Sasuke. As far as he knew, the two had never interacted before, so he was surprised that Hinata wasn't behaving like the shy person she usually was around someone she wasn't acquainted with. Then again, a sense of familiarity hung between the two—a realization that only served to confuse Kiba even further. "They're just... talking."

A thoughtful silence came over Shikamaru once the group finally entered the main building.

"Hey guys, let's all compare schedules," Ino called out as she came to a halt. They all pulled over to the side of the hallway in order to keep from preventing other students from getting to their first class, each of them holding out their schedules and poring over the thin sheets of paper as they huddled together.

It only took about two minutes for them to figure out who has which class with another. Naruto and Sasuke had first period weight training together; Ino and Shikamaru had first period statistics together. Everyone else was on their own for the first hour. Hinata and Sakura had the same second period calculus class, and although the girl with the lilac-hued eyes was content with that knowledge, Sakura didn't appear all too excited, a fact that everyone else noticed. Sasuke, Hinata, and Naruto all had home economics for third period, a class that seemed to embarrass the vivacious blond but pleased the raven-haired girl. Shikamaru and Sakura shared the same third period advanced literature class, and he saw that as the perfect opportunity to ask the rosy-haired girl about what had happened earlier this morning. All seven of them had the same fourth and fifth period: physical education, followed by lunch, and then chemistry. While no one was particularly fond of those classes, they were all roused by the fact that they'd all have each other for three straight hours. Sasuke and Hinata were the only ones who shared a sixth period, which was advanced literature, a fact that deeply displeased Sakura, though she kept her composure.

They were all chatting excitedly about their classes when a rough hand came down hard on Naruto's shoulder.

"What the—" Naruto was saying as he turned around, an irritated expression on his face. He was promptly interrupted, however, when a fist connected with his jaw, sending him tumbling away from the group and to the ground. A collective gasp echoed throughout the hall as fists began to fly. Naruto's nose was already bleeding by the time the attacker relented for a brief moment, allowing everyone else to see who it was.

"Neji!" Hinata gasped, dropping her stuff and sprinting to the two teenagers grappling on the floor. Sasuke, Kiba, and Shikamaru were hot on her trail when she reached them. Despite the blood on Naruto's face, Hinata wasted no time grabbing at her cousin and pulling him away. At first he resisted, but when the three other guys stood defensively over Naruto and glared at him, he conceded.

Never in all of his years had anyone seen Neji so angry before, and although he had backed off, the wild look in his eyes told everyone that he was still struggling to reign in his temper and compose himself.

"Neji, what the heck is wrong with you?" Hinata asked firmly, grabbing his chin and tugging it down, forcing him to break his irrational concentration on Naruto. His pale eyes, the exact color she was born with, softened significantly when they scanned over her. With his two hands gripping her shoulders gently, he stepped back and gave her a once-over, seeming to be looking for something and then sighing in relief when he didn't find anything.

His hands dropped limply to his sides, studying her carefully before speaking. "Someone told me that this thug with blond hair and a black eye attacked you in the main quad this morning. I had to find the asshole and teach him a lesson, but now I realize—"

"That the rumors are wrong?" Hinata finished, raising her eyes in a scolding manner. "As you can see, I'm in one piece. I don't have a single scratch on me. You should've checked with me first before flying into a blinding rage, Neji. That was irresponsible of you. You're not my older brother, you're not my boyfriend, and you're not my father. Besides, I can protect myself just fine."

To everyone's genuine surprise, Neji hung is head in shame at her admonishment. Hinata pursed her lips before wrapping her arms around her cousin and giving him a squeeze. "Thank you for worrying about me, though," she murmured over his shoulder. "You have no idea how much I appreciate it."

Neji returned the hug briefly before pulling away; he had never been one for physical contact, unless it came to beating the crap out of someone.

"Hey, do you plan on apologizing?!" came a loud, angry voice behind them. Naruto was holding a wad of paper towels to his nose with Sakura and Ino standing near him, more paper towels in hand. It was evident that they were worried about the tense atmosphere, but before Neji could react, two teachers came sprinting down the hall in their direction.

Everything seemed to happen fast. Naruto launched himself at Neji just as professors Kakashi and Asuma reached the scene. Sasuke was more than willing to jump into the fray, but Sakura had an iron grip on his elbow. Ino was holding Kiba back as well, and as for Shikamaru, he watched the entire debacle with his arms crossed and his back against a wall. Once the two teachers broke apart the scuffle, Professor Kakashi pointed a finger at the girls and told them to get to class. Professor Asuma wrangled all of the boys with a little help from his fellow colleague and sent them each to the principal's office.

* * *

Despite the teachers' clear instructions, Ino, Sakura, and Hinata reconvened in the first floor bathroom instead of going to class.

"Oh my gosh, Hinata, are you okay?" Ino blurted out the moment the raven-haired girl walked through the door, wasting no time to grab her wrist and yank her into a bone-crushing hug.

"I'll be fine if you let me go," Hinata wheezed as she patted the blonde's back reassuringly, praying that it would be enough to make her let go. Although she didn't look it, Ino was _much_ stronger than people gave her credit for.

"Sorry, sorry," Ino apologized sheepishly once she released Hinata from her suffocating embrace. She rubbed her back soothingly as she attempted to catch her breath. "I just got so worried when I saw you rush into the fight like that."

Hinata smiled appreciatively. "I would've been okay regardless. My father didn't put me into tae kwon do classes for no reason." She reached down to grab Ino's hand and squeezed it gently. "But thank you."

Sakura hadn't said a single word throughout the exchange; even before Hinata had arrived, she had said very little to Ino, and that fact seriously irked the blonde. As the green-eyed girl turned on the faucet and slipped her hand beneath the running water, Ino turned to her and propped her hand on her hip.

"Weren't you worried about Hinata at all?" she asked expectantly.

The rosy-haired girl smoothed back her impeccable mane with her wet hand before turning off the water and sighing at her reflection. "Of course I was," Sakura said as she turned around, a small smile tugging at her lips.

Ino was more than prepared to call Sakura out on her unusually frigid behavior, but the relieved expression on Hinata's face as they embraced made her bite her tongue. The truth of the matter was that the blonde wasn't nearly as clueless as everyone thought she was. She had picked up on Sakura's attitude almost immediately, and the longer she spent with her, the more she realized as to who the negative energy was directed at. What she couldn't figure out was the _why_ part. Hinata (trusting, forgiving, selfless Hinata) would never willingly offend anyone unless it came to defending those she cared about. That never turned out to be an often case, however, because, since her diaper days, not a single one of the many people in her life was spineless. It was just that she was always so ready to believe in the best in people, so much so that it stretched into naivety. It was the kind of innocence that made everyone want to either take advantage of Hinata, or protect and shelter her, though she hardly needed the latter. While she might not give off the impression, she was a black belt in tae kwon do so a lack of self-defense wasn't likely to be a problem. She did have a specific weakness, however, and that was her love and trust for her friends. While Sakura was fiercely loyal, she was also incredibly stubborn and, unfortunately, selfish. The biggest issue was, Ino's temperament was the carbon copy of Sakura's.

"I'm so worried about Naruto," Hinata admitted anxiously, staring down at her hands as she wrung them over and over. "It's only his first day at Konoha High and it already looks like he's going to be having a lot of problems."

Ino sighed and rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest and leaning against a wall as she crossed her ankles. "Yeesh, tell me about it. That outfit of his doesn't exactly scream, 'perfect student' either, and to top it all off, he's already on Neji's bad side. As far as I can tell, it's not going to be an easy year for him."

Sakura quirked her mouth thoughtfully, her eyebrows scrunched up in concentration. Her friends glanced at her in confusion when her mint green eyes suddenly lit up. "I know just the thing we need!" she gasped, clapping once excitedly and clasping her hands to her chest. "What if we threw him a welcome back party?" Sakura looked back and forth between Ino and Hinata with a growing smile on her lips. "I mean, I know we didn't know him before he left, but that doesn't mean he wasn't here. Besides..." she tacked on shyly, a hint of a blush coloring her ivory cheeks. "It'd be the perfect opportunity to get closer to Sasuke."

Hinata nibbled nervously on her lower lip when Sakura glanced at her with an odd look in her eye. At the mention of Sasuke, the rosy-haired girl practically glowed, but for some reason, when she suddenly remembered Hinata's presence, she grew very cold very quickly and, try as she might, it was hard for her to brush it off. However, before she could pluck up the courage to ask her best friend about it, she was interrupted.

"Hinata," Sakura began carefully, her demeanor nonchalant. "I'm going to ask you bluntly because I don't know how else to do it."

That was all the raven-haired girl needed for her stomach to churn into large, anxious knots. She hadn't the slightest clue as to where her best friend was going with this, but she knew from plenty of years of friendship that Sakura was masking her internal turmoil with a cool exterior. Whatever this was, it was serious, and it scared Hinata that, for the first time since they've met, that unflinching and prying gaze was set directly on her.

"Do you have feelings for Sasuke?"

There was a very brief moment of heavy silence in the bathroom. Ino's aquamarine hues widened at the question, her relaxed posture instantly stiffening as she swung her gaze back and forth between Sakura and Hinata. Then, to everyone's surprise, Hinata burst into a fit of laughter.

"I'm sorry, but, _what_?" she asked once she sobered up, her hand still hovering over her mouth in amusement. "Why in the world would I have feelings for Sasuke Uchiha?" It was one of the most absurd things she had ever been asked.

Sakura only narrowed her eyes at Hinata, decidedly not convinced by her reaction. "Why wouldn't you? He's the smartest person in this entire school. He's cool and very handsome and incredibly talented. What isn't there to like about him?"

It was clear that Hinata had offended Sakura. Her purple eyes widened in astonishment as she instinctively took a step back, her best friend's expression instilling wariness into her. "He's likable, sure," Hinata said, backpedalling. "But I'm not interested in him like that. Not in the least." Her eyebrows slowly knitted together as she eyed Sakura uneasily. "I can't believe you'd actually think that I would crush on someone you have feelings for, someone you've had your eye on since elementary school. Is your trust in me really so fragile?"

"What else am I supposed to think when I see the two of you so nice and cozy in the back?" Sakura spat venomously, her lip curling in anger. "Not once in his entire school history has he ever shown any romantic interest in anyone, but all it takes is one conversation with you and suddenly he can't take his eyes off of you?" Sakura swallowed hard. "You and him looked way too familiar for two people who had just met..." She eyed Hinata with a look in her eye that strangely resembled... jealousy. "Is there something between the two of you? Something you're not telling me?"

Ino stepped towards the raven-haired girl and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder. She threw Sakura a dirty look. "What the hell is wrong with you? Did you forget that this is _Hinata_ we're talking about? Maybe your obsession with Sasuke has blinded you, but she's got her eyes set on someone else entirely."

Hinata shook her head. "You don't have to do that, Ino," she murmured, raising a hand to pat the one around her shoulder before turning to Sakura and meeting her livid gaze with a steady and firm one of her own. "As for Sasuke... that's none of your business."

"_Excuse me_?" Sakura seethed. The furious look in her mint green eyes sent an intense shiver of fear down Hinata's spine; there have been plenty of situations where she had witnessed her friend's fury, but this was the first time it had ever been directed at her. She was absolutely terrified by the fact that her friend had turned on her so easily.

"Okay, you know what? Hinata, you should go to class," Ino ordered, wasting no time to step in between them. As much as she loved her best friends, the last thing she wanted was for them to get into a fight, whether it be verbally or physically, because she had a feeling that if they ever reached that point, things would never be the same between them again. And that was the very last thing the blonde wanted.

Hinata nodded mutely before turning on her heel and striding outside of the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind her.

* * *

"How many times do I have to tell you that _I didn't start the fight_?" Naruto insisted, enunciating every word slowly in case the principal was really was daft as he came off to be.

The principal's office was crowded with people at the moment; Neji and Naruto were sitting in the only two seats across from the large mahogany desk, Neji's posture impeccable while Naruto was slouched in his seat, his arms folded across his chest. Professors Kakashi and Asuma were standing by the door to the office while Sasuke, Kiba, and Shikamaru were forced to line up against a wall. Thirty minutes had passed since they were called into the principal's office but no amount of arguing or substantial evidence from the "unreliable eyewitnesses" (as the man behind the desk preferred to refer to them as) would convince the principal that Neji was the one to instigate.

Principal Ebisu sighed as he pushed his sunglasses farther up the bridge of his nose. "What did you see, Asuma, Kakashi?" he asked, turning to the two teachers flanking either side of the door.

Professors Asuma and Kakashi exchanged a silent glance before the white-haired man spoke up. "Naruto, was it?" he asked, turning his steady eyes to the seething blond.

Naruto was surprised to be addressed directly by anyone other than the principal. "Er, yes," he answered hesitantly, slightly ill at ease.

"When we arrived, the fight had already begun," Asuma said to Ebisu as he casually stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Naruto was throwing himself at Neji just as we got there to break it up."

"And there you have it!" Principal Ebisu said smugly as he looked at Naruto with distaste. "Neji Hyuga has been a model student since the moment he stepped foot into my school—impeccable grades, a spotless record, a well-renowned family, and favored by all of his teachers. I find it difficult to believe that someone like you—" Ebisu gave Naruto a once-over, his mouth screwing up in disgust before continuing, "would change him in an instant."

At that, Naruto and Kiba gaped at the principal. _Did he really just say that?!_ thought the blond incredulously. Sasuke's and Shikamaru's eyes narrowed into slits, Sasuke flexing his fists and Shikamaru clenching his teeth in fury. Neji remained passive.

Before any one of the outraged boys could utter a word, however, Professor Kakashi stepped in. "Sir," he began, his shrewd eyes darting between the five teenagers. "There were other students there when the fight broke out. Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, and Hinata Hyuga." He met Ebisu's gaze indifferently. "I'm sure you can agree with me when I say that they're all honest girls. Why don't we call them down and hear what they have to say?"

Even after Principal Ebisu agreed, it was evident that he was firmly set on Neji's innocence. His reasoning, while perfectly understandable, was entirely biased. Everyone in that room could tell, especially after he refused to hear any other argument besides Neji's. Naruto had no idea what Ebisu's problem was, but his confidence was regained when he knew the three girls were going to come and back him up.

* * *

Ino's head was in her palms when someone knocked on her classroom door. Professor Iruka, her strict but friendly statistics professor, was the one to answer. News about Neji and Naruto's fight spread throughout Konoha High like wildfire, and once Ino had entered her first period classroom, other students have been stopping by her desk regularly to pester her with questions about it. She was stressed enough as it was; after Hinata left the restroom, she and Sakura broke out into one of their worst fights yet. As if that wasn't enough to wear her down, her peers kept asking her to either verify or deny the most ridiculous rumors she's ever heard. _I'm so ready for this day to be over already_, Ino groaned internally.

"Ino Yamanaka!" Professor Iruka called out suddenly, the blonde's head shooting up in surprise as she jumped in her seat. "You're wanted at the principal's office."

The classroom grew to an unsettling silence as every pair of eyes swiveled to Ino's seat. As she stood, she couldn't help but feel like there was some imaginary spotlight on her, what with the way her peers were gawking at her. Right before she exited the room, there was an explosion of whispers.

"These people seriously need to get a life," she growled under her breath as she stepped through the doorframe.

Still, as she made her way down a corridor, around a corner, and past the main hall, she couldn't help but wonder why she was being summoned to the principal's office. It's not like she was involved in the fight, and no one knew about her spat with Sakura.

Ino groaned loudly, massaging her temples furiously to ease the steadily increasing headache she felt coming on. "This is such a drag!" she grumbled angrily once she reached the principal's office. When she realized what she said, she did the last thing she thought she'd be doing that day: she giggled. _I've been hanging out with Shikamaru for way too long,_ the blonde thought to herself with a small smile as she raised her knuckles and tapped them against the large wooden door.

* * *

The Poetry III classroom was uncharacteristically boisterous for the first day of school. Hinata was unwaveringly certain as to why that was, but still, the loud chattering of her classmates was unable to keep her mind from delving into its own recesses. It was a good thing, too, that the first day back to Konoha High was always the most lenient day, because she had a lot on her mind. As Hinata stared out through the window, her chin propped on her palm, she couldn't help but think back to the incident with Sakura. _I'm such a terrible friend_, she thought wistfully, her eyebrows pulling together at the revelation. _Why am I so oblivious?_ While her self-deprecating thought process was unnecessary (unbeknownst to Hinata), it was also true. Understanding others' thoughts and feelings without verbal communication was a skill the raven-haired girl lacked. Tell her to memorize a theorem and solve two dozen problems relating to it—no problem. Name all of the capitals in every continent? No sweat. But if you ask her to read other people? Forget about it. It truly pained her to know that she was so clueless about Sakura's feelings and what she might have thought if she saw her and Sasuke interacting so naturally. After so many years with the rosy-haired girl, Hinata was more than well informed on the inner workings of her head, so why did it surprise her that she'd jump to conclusions about the entire thing? _I'll just have to keep my distance from Sasuke_, she concluded, pressing her smooth lips into a firm line in resignation.

"Hinata," a sweet voice murmured. The raven-haired girl looked away from the window with a start, her lilac hues wide and astonished as she registered Professor Kurenai's presence. She had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed when her teacher approached her.

"Y-yes, ma'am?" Hinata answered quickly, blinking as she tried to compose herself.

"The principal wants to see you," the gentle woman answered, eyeing her pupil with concern on her face. "Is everything alright?"

Hinata sighed, her entire body sagging as she expelled the air from her lungs. "I'm not sure. I hope so."

A small, reassuring smile tugged at the poetry instructor's lips as she nodded once. "If there's anything you ever need to talk about, my door is always open for you, Hinata."

The statement caught the young Hyuga by surprise, but as she took in Kurenai's sincere expression, she felt a warm smile tug at the corners of her lips. "Thank you."

As Hinata stood, she smoothed down her pleated charcoal uniform skirt and readjusted her sailor uniform shirt and made her way down to the principal's office. No one had confirmed as to why, exactly, Principal Ebisu was requesting her presence, but she had a hunch that it had something to do with Naruto and Neji.

Sure enough, as she made her way into the crowded room and took in everyone (the five boys, the two teachers, the principal, and Ino) her suspicions were confirmed.

"Make yourself comfortable, miss Hinata," Principal Ebisu said by way of greeting, waving a hand and gesturing around the room.

Her pale hues spotted Naruto immediately, and as he looked up and met her gaze, he swelled excitedly, visibly relieved. His glittering blue eyes and his evident elation at the sight of her injected a euphoric kind of happiness into her veins. A delighted blush crept into her cheeks and, inadvertently, a sweet smile curved her lips. The moment her gaze flickered to Neji, though, she stiffened, and her entire expression smoothed. He was poised calmly in his seat, his countenance expertly controlled, but it was obvious (to her, at least) that he wasn't nearly as collected as he came off to be.

Principal Ebisu cleared his throat noisily, drawing Hinata's attention back to him. He gave her a pointed look before she scrambled awkwardly to Ino's side.

"Miss Hyuga, miss Yamanaka, thank you for coming. All that we're missing is—"

As if right on cue, someone's fist rapped on the office door.

"Come in!" the principal called, folding his hands on his mahogany desk as Sakura turned the knob and entered the room.

* * *

The entire process was quick, though it was not painless. Sakura and Ino had no quarrels over confirming Naruto's innocence. When it came down to Hinata, however, it wasn't so simple. The tense atmosphere, coupled with all of the pressure on which one she should defend, plus her ties with both Neji and Naruto, stressed her out immensely. As much as she cared for her cousin, she knew she couldn't lie for him. Even if equity didn't drive Hinata's hand, there was enough proof against Neji that her aid wouldn't have benefited him. Still, the last thing she wanted was to betray Naruto so, in the end, although it took some time, she finally admitted Neji's guiltiness.

The group of friends chatted excitedly as they made their way out of Principal Ebisu's office, satisfied with the outcome, and as Hinata waited anxiously by the door for Neji (he had stayed behind to receive his punishment), Naruto pulled Sakura aside from the others, his hand wrapped familiarly around her wrist.

"Thanks for backing me up, Sakura," the blond said happily, rubbing the nape of his neck with his free hand. A huge grin stretched over his face when she looked up at him and smiled warmly.

"It's no problem," she replied with a nonchalant shrug. "That jerk deserves whatever he's getting. He had no right to attack you like he did. Besides, if the teachers had chosen to show up a little bit later, I probably would've tried to kick his ass, too." She grinned.

"I would've loved to see a girl defend me. It's actually pretty flattering," he shot back with a wink, chuckling. A moment of silence passed over them as the two continued smiling at each other before Naruto realized that he still had his grip on the green-eyed girl. "Oh, uh, sorry about that," he said awkwardly, uncurling his fingers before stuffing them into his pockets.

"That's okay," Sakura replied easily. "Is there anything else you wanted?"

Naruto's teeth scraped at his bottom lip gently before he continued. "There's actually something I've been wanting to ask you."

"Oh?" Sakura questioned, raising an eyebrow curiously. "What's up?"

Nervously, he raked his fingers through his blond locks before taking a deep breath and trudging on. "Do you, I don't know... Maybe want to, uh, eat some food with me sometime?"

A brief pause of silence hung between the two before Sakura spoke again. "Are you asking me out?" she questioned, her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

Naruto chuckled breathlessly. "Yes?" It sounded more like an inquiry than an answer, but his stomach was flipping over incessantly that he couldn't help how his words left his mouth.

"Um," Sakura began. That was all she had to say, though, for Naruto to grasp what she was going to say next. He averted his eyes to the ground beneath his feet as she continued. "The thing is, Naruto..."

The blond's shoulders slouched instantly as he cringed at her words. He knew it was unreasonable to believe that she would accept his invitation so easily, especially since they had only just met, but the familiar sting of rejection sliced at his heart mercilessly. Her sentence drifted off into silence, however. Confused, he looked up at her, ready to nudge her on; if he was going to get rejected, it might as well be quick. It was torture any other way. But he paused when he noticed that her mint green eyes were locked on something over his shoulder. They were hard and cold, a sharp contrast the warmth and wit that had reeled him in the moment he had gazed into them the night before. Something inside of him recoiled at the surprising harshness in those eyes.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"You know what?" she replied suddenly, wiping away her bitter expression and instantly replacing it with the easygoing one she had adorned only moments earlier. "I'd love to go on a date with you."

"Really?" Naruto perked up immediately, a hopeful look lighting up his deep blue hues as he looked down at her petite figure.

"Really," Sakura affirmed, stepping closer to the blond before getting on her tiptoes and planting a kiss on his cheek. He was in too much of a shock to notice the smug smile she threw at a rather flabbergasted—and particularly dismayed—raven-haired girl.


	6. Classifieds

"You know, you're not so bad, Uchiha," Kiba mused thoughtfully as he, Shikamaru, Ino, and Sasuke stepped out of the principal's office and into the empty hallway. "I assumed you thought you were too good for most people. Guess I was wrong."

Ino simply rolled her eyes while Shikamaru shot Kiba a thoroughly astounded look. After all of the years the two boys had spent together, Shikamaru caught on instantly to Kiba's rather blunt nature. Shikamaru had tough skin, but, unfortunately, he couldn't say the same for all of the people Kiba had offended in the past.

A rare, crooked grin tugged at Sasuke's lips as he raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Thanks, I think? Although I don't know what the compliment is for."

"It's because you defended Naruto after only knowing him for such a short while," Shikamaru supplied, slouching against the wall and digging his hands into his pockets.

Sasuke raised another brow. "I've known that dumbass for more than just a short while, actually," he informed them, glancing around at the others. He didn't seem to notice their surprised expressions as he spotted Sakura and Naruto some distance away from the rest of them, murmuring and smiling to each other. With his eyebrows arched high in curiosity, his gaze quickly scanned around for the warm girl with the even warmer purple eyes. When he spotted her, though, he found that the warm depth they usually held was replaced by a restlessness he easily recognized. She was standing near the office door, staring down at her hands as they wrung her pleated skirt anxiously. He studied her concerned expression as she looked up and spotted Naruto and Sakura, and as he observed her face morph from worry, to sadness, to shock, to pain, his dark eyes widened and his lips pressed into a thin, firm line.

"Hello? Earth to Sasuke?" Kiba said loudly in the Uchiha's ear.

He blinked in astonishment as he swiveled his attention back to the others. "Pardon?"

"Tch, you weren't listening to us at all, were you?" the brunet muttered, folding his arms across his chest. Sasuke simply stared at him, deadpanned.

"Ignore him," Shikamaru piped up. "I only wanted to ask you how you know Naruto."

Sasuke sighed as he glanced at Hinata distractedly. "That's something you'll have to ask him for yourself." Without another word, he stepped away from the small group of friends and followed the lilac gaze just in time to catch Sakura pecking Naruto on the cheek. He also caught the dark smirk she threw at Hinata, an action that ignited such an intense and white-hot fury that blossomed at the core of his chest. The ferocity of his emotion left him taken aback but, as he watched Sakura skip merrily to her group of friends, it was what drove him to storm directly towards her.

A surprised squeak left Sakura's lips when she felt a rough hand wrap itself around her dainty wrist, yanking her clumsily away from Shikamaru, Ino, and Kiba before they could notice what was happening. Even as he continued tugging the rosy-haired girl down the hallway, the whirlwind of jumbled thoughts clouding his mind overshadowed her persistent —though surprisingly insincere—protesting. He knew perfectly well that his anger towards what he witnessed was both unreasonable and, quite frankly, none of his business, but the hurt in Hinata's expressive eyes revealed a sense of protectiveness he hadn't realize he possessed for her. What kind of friend would he be if he brushed the entire thing off? The hospital was a sanctuary of heartache for the both of them. He wasn't about to let school become another one for her.

It didn't take long for Sasuke to find a hidden pocket in the wall. Not unkindly, he tossed Sakura into it, following after her hastily. When he released his restraining grip on her wrist, she held it to her torso defensively and massaged it. A pang of guilt bloomed in his chest at the sight, but when he saw the smug undertone in her mint green eyes, it instantly vanished.

"Sasuke, what the hell?" she asked in surprise, her tone laced with faux exasperation. As she kneaded soothingly at her throbbing wrist, she looked up, more than prepared to complain about his rough handling, when she froze. All words of objection died on her lips because she realized he was so _close_. His sudden proximity sent her heart into a frenzy, and her capability of forming coherent words was noticeably absent. Slowly, her light green hues traveled appreciatively along his lean figure. Sakura didn't bother trying to be subtle about it; she couldn't help it, after all. They were so unbearably close that she could feel his warm breath stirring a few loose strands of her strawberry tresses. Nervously, she swallowed down the growing lump in her throat. Before now, she and Sasuke had never been so close, as well as so private. She could feel his body heat emanating through his white, form-fitting button-down uniform shirt, and his natural scent—a spicy musk that intrigued the senses, something that she had never had the privilege of smelling—bombarded her nostrils and provoked a shiver of delight. It was intoxicating, so much so that she couldn't concentrate on what he was saying to her.

Sasuke snapped his fingers impatiently in front of Sakura's face in an attempt to dispel the faraway look in her mint green eyes. "Are you even listening to me?" he growled angrily, grabbing her chin with his hand and forcing her to meet his dark-eyed gaze.

"U-um, what?" she mumbled distantly, her expression dazed. He heaved a sigh of frustration.

"What the hell are you trying to pull with Naruto?" he repeated through gritted teeth.

At that, Sakura blinked her stupor away, focusing her eyes on Sasuke's elegant face. "I… W-what do you mean?" she stammered nervously, swallowing down another invisible lump that had lodged itself into her throat. "What are you talking about?"

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut briefly before peeling them open again, flashing the rosy-haired girl an angry look. "I mean exactly what I'm saying. Or do I have to spell it out for you?" he sneered. "What. The. Hell. Are. You. Trying. To. Pull. With. Naruto?" When he didn't get a response, he flexed his fist in an attempt to reign in his frustration. "Look, playing stupid might work with everyone else out there," he muttered, jabbing a finger towards the others, the sudden movement causing Sakura to flinch. "But it won't fly with me."

A long moment of silence hung heavily between them as they stared into each other's eyes, Sakura in longing and Sasuke in irritation. It was becoming increasingly apparent that his current tactic wasn't getting him anywhere, so he decided to switch gears. He shut his eyes once again, longer this time, as he took in a deep breath. Once he was sure he had a cap on his temper, he opened his eyes and looked down at Sakura again. She had watched in awe as his anger steadily seeped away from his face, only to leave behind the usual indifferent expression that somehow lured the opposite gender to him like ramen seduced Naruto.

"Lets try this again," Sasuke murmured, calmly this time. To Sakura's utter astonishment, the same hand he had used to roughly trap her chin between his fingers gently smoothed along her jawline until it cupped her cheek, the pad of this thumb caressing her skin in soothing circles. Her knees all but gave out right then; his tender touch left her feeling dizzy, and as he watched her eyelids droop in sheer ecstasy, he knew he had won. "What were you and Naruto talking about?" Sasuke asked quietly, bending forward slowly and brushing his lips back and forth against the soft skin of her neck. "Can you tell me? Please, Sakura?"

The rosy-haired girl raised a trembling hand to the enticing boy's shoulder, gripping it for support; she was so sure that if she didn't hold on to something soon, she would collapse. Her heart was sputtering quicker than a hummingbird's and her limbs were like jelly. No one had ever stolen Sakura's self control so easily—then again, it was Sasuke who had managed to do it, so it shouldn't have surprised her; he was the only person capable of robbing her of all intelligible functions.

"H-he… He asked me out on a date. And I said y-y-_yes_," she breathed, gnawing on her lower lip as Sasuke's other hand glided along her side, grazing tenderly at the expanse between Sakura's ribs and hips.

"Why would you do that when you have feelings for me?" he whispered into her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin.

Sakura licked her lips hopelessly, her mouth dry. "H-how do you know that?" she stuttered quietly, turning her face into his dark silky locks and unintentionally inhaling his exhilarating scent once more. Another, more violent shudder made its way down her petite body.

"Because, Sakura," he said quietly, pulling away to look her in the eye. "I notice things when it comes to girls that catch my attention." And it was the truth, though Sakura wasn't the girl that had attracted his interest. He simply had an innate ability to sense others' feelings, and it just so happened that he had a lot of practice catching on to girls' silly crushes on him. He was even better at getting what he wanted when it came to them. It appeared that Sakura was no exception in either department.

Still, his smooth words broke any and all resolve the green-eyed girl possessed. "I d-don't like Naruto, not romantically," she blurted quietly, as if to reassure Sasuke that he had her full and undivided affections. Internally, Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Then why did you agree to go on a date with him?" Sasuke continued, pressing his forehead to Sakura's and staring unblinkingly into her disoriented gaze.

Breathlessly, she answered, "Because I w-wanted to make Hinata feel what I felt when I saw the t-two of you talking so comfortably together."

Her reply was exactly what Sasuke expected to hear; despite the fact that it didn't surprise him, it still fanned the flames of his anger. He clenched his jaw briefly before shoving down his temper and speaking again. "I want you to tell Naruto that you changed your mind about going on a date with him," he ordered in a soft voice.

"But—"

"Tell him," he interrupted, "that you have a date with someone else."

Sakura's mint green hues widened in bafflement. "W-with who?" she asked in a small voice.

"Isn't that obvious?" Sasuke murmured, pulling away slightly to look at her more directly. "With me." And without another word, he kissed her.

* * *

Once Sakura walked away from Naruto, the blond approached Hinata with the goofiest grin on his face. "Hinata, guess what!" he exclaimed before scooping the girl up in his strong arms and twirling her around. She giggled at his boyish cheerfulness, her chin resting on the top of his head and her arms twining around his neck. Her heart still panged painfully at the image of Sakura's lips on Naruto's cheek; it was as if it were branded into the inside of Hinata's eyelids—scorched into her mind—because every time she blinked, she saw that sight. Still, even if pain tugged at her heart, a sense of happiness washed over her because she knew Naruto was overjoyed. It was the kind of elation that only Sakura, ramen, and very exciting events could elicit from him. Even if she and Hinata were currently having a rather monumental disagreement, she was still thankful that she was able to make Naruto as happy as he currently was.

"I can't guess when you're spinning me around, Naruto!" Hinata squealed breathlessly, giggling when he slid his hands to her hips and placed her carefully onto her feet. His hands—large, warm, and strong—lingered there momentarily, causing a vivid scarlet to flood the girl's ivory cheeks. He stuffed them into his pockets nonchalantly, completely unaffected as if twirling her around in his arms and gripping her hips were the most natural things in the world. Hinata's heart was pounding so hard, she thought it was going to break through her ribcage. And as Naruto bent down to look her eye to dazzling blue eye, she silently wondered if he could hear it. He must have; the sound was thumping shamelessly in her ears.

"It's all thanks to you, really," Naruto grinned, entirely oblivious to Hinata's flustered appearance.

"All thanks to me?" she inquired, a confused smile curving her lips. "What did I do?"

"You must've put in a really good word for me!" he exclaimed excitedly, taking Hinata by surprise and pulling her into a tight hug. Impossibly, her heart thudded even harder.

_He could definitely feel it_, she crowed internally, her mind spinning as she felt him squeeze her closer, her soft body melding perfectly into the blond's hard one. The proximity sent a hot flush throughout her entire body, and by the time he released her, she was unbelievably light-headed.

"I asked her out," Naruto continued happily. "And she said _yes_."

At that, Hinata felt her heart pause for two painful beats. "She did?" she asked slowly, reluctantly. She didn't know why she asked again; hearing it once was agonizing enough. But something inside of her clung desperately to the hope that maybe she had heard wrong. It was an unwise thing to hope for, because the luminous grin gracing Naruto's handsome face shot it down instantly.

"She did. And it's all because you talked to her for me. I know that, without your help, I never would've gotten far with her on my own. So thank you, thank you so much!" Just as Naruto enveloped her into another warm embrace, the others—with the exception of Sakura and Sasuke, Hinata noted—joined them.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Kiba asked as Naruto released the raven-haired girl and turned to face their group of friends.

"Oh, nothin'," Naruto replied with a carefree shrug, though the grin that stretched across his face said otherwise.

Ino rolled her aquamarine eyes. "Stop fishing, because we're not going to take the bate. Just tell us what you're so excited over."

Naruto looked down at Hinata with a warm smile. "Let her tell you!" he said, encouraging her with a gentle pat on her back.

While hearing it come from his mouth was bad, it was considerably worse that he wanted _her _to say it. All eyes skittered towards Hinata as she swallowed uncomfortably, the pink tint in her cheeks slowly fading.

"Don't tell me!" Ino suddenly blurted, her blue eyes twinkling merrily as they darted back and forth eagerly between the two teenagers. "Are you two dating?"

Hinata didn't know what was more painful, knowing that that wasn't the news Naruto wanted to reveal or hearing him laugh as he brushed it off like that was the most unheard of suggestion. The raven-haired girl glanced down at her feet briefly before looking back up with a fixed smile on her face. "Naruto and Sakura are going to go on a date," she announced.

"Nice!" Kiba exclaimed. "Congrats, man!" Kiba stepped forward and clapped Naruto on the back.

As the two boys conversed, Shikamaru and Ino stared at Hinata with sympathetic, knowing expressions. Shikamaru didn't say anything, but as he passed her by, he placed a brief, comforting hand on her shoulder before returning to his two best friends. Without a word, Ino wrapped her arms around Hinata. The longer they stood there in each other's arms, the more difficult it was for her to keep the grin on her face looking genuine.

"You don't have to fake a smile with me, Hinata," Ino murmured gently as she pulled away.

Before she could respond, the boys returned to the two girls with suspicious expressions on their faces.

"Hey, Hinata, have you seen Sakura?" Naruto asked, looking down either side of the hallway. "She just disappeared."

"Sorry, I'm over here!" came Sakura's voice. Everyone whirled around and saw the familiar pink head bobbing from a distance as she ran to the group.

The confused expression on Naruto's face instantly vanished, a lovesick grin quickly taking its place. "C'mon, Sakura," he called, extending his arm and wrapping it around her shoulders. "Let's go. I'll walk you to your first class."

Something seemed off about Sakura when she turned around and waved goodbye to the others. A shimmering aura hung about her, and when Ino and Hinata traded glances, they knew they weren't imagining things. Her skin glowed and her eyes were so illuminated, yet slightly dazed. Even the way she walked was different, a confident sway to her hips that wasn't there only a few minutes ago. They all watched silently until they disappeared around a corner. Someone sighed.

"We'd better get to class, too," Shikamaru said, stretching his neck lazily. "It's half-way over, but it's better to be there for some of it. If we don't show up, the rumors will only get worse, eh?"

Ino shook her head in an exasperated manner. "Oh, you don't know the half of it," she huffed. "The ridiculous gossip floating around school is bad enough as it is. These people either have a crazy imagination or a thirst for drama. Honestly, I don't want to find out what else they'll come up with."

"Tch," Kiba muttered with a roll of his eyes. "I can only imagine."

"C'mon, let's go, Ino," Shikamaru said as he turned around and began walking, Kiba quickly coming to his side. "You know Iruka will get suspicious if only one of us shows up to class."

"Are you coming, Hinata?" Ino asked, glancing over at the lilac-hued girl.

"Ah, don't worry about me," Hinata replied with a reassuring wave of her hand. "I'll go back to class soon. I'm just waiting for Neji to come out."

Ino stared at her sadly before nodding. "I'll see you soon," was all she said, though the look in her aquamarine eyes hinted at more that went untold. She quickly spun around and sprinted to the two retreating figures. A few seconds later, the three disappeared, leaving Hinata completely alone. Or, at least, she thought.

Hinata heaved a sigh as she pressed her back against the wall, slowly sliding down it until her bottom reached the frigid marble ground. She crossed her legs and flattened her skirt over her thighs before resting the back of her head against the wall. Just as she was about to close her eyes and sigh again, the principal's office door swung open and out stepped Neji, along with professors Kakashi and Asuma. The older Hyuga spotted Hinata immediately, though the teachers didn't notice until after they closed the heavy wooden door.

"Hinata, shouldn't you be in class?" Professor Asuma asked, looking down at her curiously.

"I wanted to wait for Neji," she explained as she scrambled to her feet. With a deadpan expression, her cousin reached down and helped her up. "Thank you," she murmured shyly as she brushed off the back of her skirt.

"Return to class soon," Asuma said before turning on his heel and walking away.

"Or just be fashionably late," Professor Kakashi whispered to her with a wink before strolling down the other direction and whistling tunelessly.

As the instructors departed, Neji and Hinata stood there. Neji was silent while Hinata awkwardly wrung the pleated folds of her skirt, trying to come up with something to say to him.

"So, um, what kind of punishment did you receive?" she asked nervously, glancing up at her cousin briefly before turning her attention back to the floor. Truth be told, she was guilt-ridden at having sold out her cousin. The Hyugas were raised with the principle that loyalty to your family always preceded any other ties. She couldn't help but feel like she betrayed him, and by the cold look in his lavender hues, he concurred.

Neji stared down at her for a silent moment before sighing. "I was let off with a warning," he muttered, scowling at the distance. "I've never faced something so humiliating in my life."

Hesitantly, Hinata reached forward to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. The relief she felt at knowing that things turned out better than she had imagined was dizzying. Any guilt she harbored was wasted on him, however, because he shrugged away from her touch without so much as a word or a glance. She knew he would be angry, but his disregard to her remorse still festered painfully at her heart. She retracted her hand, allowing it to fall limply to her side while she offered her cousin a strained smile. "I'm glad nothing bad came out of this," she said lamely.

At that, Neji spared her a backward glance. A brief flash of emotion flitted across his countenance, but as he nodded once and turned on his heel, it was quickly disguised by his usual lackluster façade.

Before Hinata could say anything else, a firm but gentle hand grasped her elbow. With a start, she swiveled around to find that the grip belonged to Sasuke. _Where did he come from?_

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said quietly, his dark hues flicking between Neji's retreating back and Hinata's startled expression. After a moment, he released his hold on Hinata and stuffed his hand into his pocket. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Can I walk you to class?" he asked nonchalantly as the two slowly began to make their way down the hallway.

Hinata's long-lashed eyes widened infinitesimally. "Sure," she replied, though it sounded anything but casual. If anything, she sounded hesitant, though she was more surprised than anything.

Sasuke merely chuckled at her reaction. "Who do you have?"

"Poetry with Professor Kurenai."

The conversation ended there, though it was more her fault for not bothering to put much effort into the exchange. The silence between them was anything but comfortable, at least for Hinata. She was still thoroughly confused by Sasuke's newfound desire to reach out to her outside of hospital grounds. Her lilac hues kept darting to her quiet companion as she debated whether or not to ask him about it. She didn't have long to weigh the possibilities of the outcome, however, because he noticed her surreptitious glances and her brooding expression almost immediately.

"If you're going to tell me something, you might as well get it over with before we get to your class," Sasuke sighed, turning his chin to look at Hinata directly. "If you think for too long, you're going to get wrinkles." At that, he reached out and stroked the skin between the light-eyed girl's eyebrows. She flushed under his touch instantaneously. He simply chuckled again.

"I was just wondering," Hinata began carefully, her fingers automatically teasing at the hem of her skirt. "Why you're talking to me outside of the hospital."

Sasuke halted in his tracks and raised a single eyebrow. Out of all of the things he had expected her to be fretting over—her cousin, Naruto, Sakura, literally _anything else_—he hadn't been expecting to be the person she was concerning herself over. "Do you not want me to talk to you at school?" he asked uncertainly, his lips pressed together.

"N-no! That's not what I meant," Hinata blurted, waving her hands around awkwardly as she tried to backtrack. "It's just," she continued, looking at Sasuke curiously. "You usually avoid me at school. I'm wondering why you changed your mind after all these years, is all." The raven-haired girl entwined her fingers together in front of her as she studied him, clearly expecting an answer.

Sasuke stared at Hinata for a few long moments before closing his eyes and heaving a sigh. He began to walk again, and as he gestured at her to do the same, she fell into step with him easily. Quietly, he mulled over her question before sighing again. "I'm not entirely sure," he admitted as they strolled past one of the classrooms. It was loud and boisterous inside, an amusing disruption of the school's studious environment.

"I'm the alpha wolf in here," boasted the professor, his tone clearly conveying his attempt to instill fear and awe into his pupils. "You have to respect my authority."

"It'd be harder to respect the authority of a supposed _alpha wolf_," a kid shot back sarcastically, "when he's about as tall as a donkey."

The classroom erupted into a chorus of laughter as the teacher bellowed, "SAY THAT AGAIN!"

To Sasuke's surprise, Hinata giggled. His mouth quirked up into a smirk at the charming sound, his head shaking from side to side in amusement. The din in the classroom quickly faded as they rounded a corner and approached the third door to the left of the hallway.

"This is my stop," Hinata said as she nodded at the classroom door. Professor Kurenai's soothing voice could be heard faintly through the other side of the door.

"Wait," Sasuke said quickly, his hand darting to Hinata's wrist when her fingers enclosed around the doorknob. She looked up at him, puzzled, before he continued. "Are you going to the hospital tonight?" he asked quietly, his dark, smoldering eyes focused intently on her pale ones.

Hinata eyed him carefully before slowly nodding. "Yes," she murmured. Sasuke nodded thoughtfully before taking back his hand. Without another word, he turned around and made his way back down the way they had come.

* * *

When third period came around, Shikamaru was the first one into the classroom. On any other regular day, whether it was the first or last day of school, he was always the one walking into class just as the tardy bell was ringing. All of the tension from this morning had gotten to him, however, and as he waited impatiently for Sakura to arrive to their advanced literature class, he was surprised to find that she was one of the last ones to walk in—though by the faraway look in her mint green eyes, _floating _would have been a better word to describe what she was doing.

"I'm surprised you're one of the stragglers today, Sakura," Professor Kakashi commented, raising his eyebrows curiously at her.

That seemed to get her out of her stupor, because she flushed a bright crimson before murmuring an apology. Shikamaru waved her down and pointed at the empty seat beside him; he had been saving it for her specifically. She flashed him a grateful smile before dropping her textbooks onto her desk and sliding into the chair. His eyebrows shot up as he eyed the titles on the spine of the books, impressed. Shikamaru's shrewd eyes darted briefly at Professor Kakashi, promptly flipping open his mostly empty notebook and tearing out a piece of paper when he saw that the teacher was only going over the class syllabus. He scribbled languidly before folding the paper and flicking it onto the rosy-haired girl's desk.

The note easily diverted Sakura's attention from Kakashi. She glanced at Shikamaru, shooting him a confused look, before unfolding the paper and scanning over his lazy scrawl. _Anatomy III, calculus, and now advanced literature? Are you_ trying_ to overwork yourself to death this year?_ Sakura rolled her eyes and snorted quietly before uncapping her pen and writing a quick reply.

_It's just the price you pay for a promising future._ Shikamaru made a face at the paper as if to say, _oh please_, before writing again.

_Isn't a love life another thing to sacrifice for the sake of being a surgeon?_ Sakura stared at the untidy words for a long moment, her expression carefully composed,before touching her pen to the paper again.

_What are you trying to say?_ Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the loopy handwriting before glancing at the green-eyed girl from the corner of his eye. Her gaze was focused a little too intently on the rambling Professor Kakashi, and though her face was perfectly at ease, his perceptive eyes didn't fail to notice her rigid posture.

_I mean, what are you trying to pull with Naruto?_ Sakura's heart began to thump painfully at the question. It was the exact same thing Sasuke had asked her, word for word. Did Sasuke tell Shikamaru about their conversation in the alcove? He couldn't have. There was no way. They didn't have the same second period and there was no time to communicate in between classes. Barely reassured by her logic, Sakura swallowed nervously before reading the rest of the note. _I know it might not be any of my business, but don't you like Sasuke? And doesn't Hinata like Naruto?_

Shikamaru frowned at the curvy script. _You're entirely right_, it said. _It's none of your business. What I do with Naruto has nothing to do with you, whether or not you know about Hinata's feelings for him._

_Did you and Hinata get in a fight or something? Because she's been looking down and you've been… weird._ Sakura's eyes narrowed at his choice of words.

_Did she tell you something? Because if she did, things are only going to end up getting worse for her._ Shikamaru's eyes widened in astonishment before his gaze pivoted to an enraged-looking Sakura.

_She didn't, but what the hell does _that_ mean?_

_BUTT OUT, WILL YOU?_

_I don't get it! Aren't you two best friends? I thought she would've told you about her feelings for Naruto by now. If she didn't, I'm sure you've noticed them at this point. Everyone has. Except for that idiot, of course. So what the hell is going on?_ Sakura glowered down at the paper in her hands. When Shikamaru received her reply, the paper was crumpled.

_If you're so desperate for some romance in your life, why don't you ask Ino out? Kiba rejected her so now she's all yours for the taking. I suggest you swoop in now before she bounces back and moves onto some poor, unsuspecting guy._ A tinge of pink colored Shikamaru's cheeks before he scribbled his reply onto the heavily creased paper.

_Don't change the subject, Sakura._

_Back off, Shikamaru._

_Why are you girls so damn troublesome?_

Sakura grabbed the paper in her fist and shoved it into one of the pockets in her bag. Shikamaru sighed.

* * *

For the entirety of home economics, Naruto had raved endlessly about the plans he had made with Sakura when he had walked her to class. He hadn't forgotten to go on and on about how Sakura was the perfect mix of sexy and cute, and, of course, thank Hinata for all of her help. There was a livid scowl on Sasuke's face by the time the three had left third period and started making their way to the outside wing to meet up with the rest of their physical education class.

The sun shone proudly in the center of the sky. Despite it being the beginning of autumn, there wasn't a single tuft of white in the blue expanse to help alleviate—whether it be barely or significantly—the unrelenting heat pressing down on the students.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata easily spotted the rest of their gang when they crossed through the doors that led to the courts at the back of the school. They were lounging beneath the shade of a towering oak tree with the majority of the class, fanning their faces with their hands or their notebooks in an attempt to cool themselves off. Sakura, who was sporting a grimace as she pointedly ignored Shikamaru, Ino, and Kiba, immediately perked up at the sight of them. At first, Hinata couldn't tell if she was looking at Naruto or Sasuke (because it definitely couldn't have been her), but when the blond greeted her enthusiastically with a, "_Saaakuraaaaaaa_!" and her expression dropped slightly, Hinata had a feeling she wasn't as happy to see Naruto as he was to see her.

As the bright-eyed teen jogged happily to the rosy-haired girl and wrapped her up into the safe embrace Hinata had grown to cherish, Sasuke muttered something underneath his breath.

"What was that?" she asked him, tearing her gaze away from the two adolescents and glancing up at him curiously with a weak smile tugging at her lips.

"Nothing," he grumbled shortly. "Come on." He grabbed her wrist and tugged her forward as she struggled to keep up with his long-legged stride.

"Hey guys," Hinata greeted the group when they finally stopped beneath the shade of the oak tree.

They offered her a smile or a lazy greeting, all too preoccupied with cooling themselves off to give her a hearty reply. Sakura's green-eyed gaze was anything but lethargic, though, when her glare zeroed in on Sasuke's hand on Hinata's wrist. The raven-haired girl swallowed nervously before tugging away from Sasuke's hold and scampering over to Ino's side as if to reassure Sakura that she had no desire to be near the dark-eyed boy. There was a flare of emotion in his face—_was he offended?_—before he glowered over at Sakura, who cowered into Naruto's side.

Sakura was just telling Naruto to back off—"It's too hot for hugs!"—when their physical education instructor skipped jovially out of one of the two buildings some twenty feet away from their oak tree, near the basketball court.

"WELCOME TO A NEW YEAR OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION! ARE YOU READY TO DEVOTE ALL OF YOUR ENERGY TO KEEP YOUR BODIES YOUTHFUL AND HEALTHY?" bellowed Coach Guy, an impossibly large and sparkling grin stretching across his face.

There was a long moment of unenthusiastic silence before Naruto, with squinting eyes, pointed at Coach Guy's face. "Are those things real?"

The reaction was instantaneous. The entire class burst into a cacophony of snickers and guffaws as Guy crossed his arms over his chest and approached Naruto.

"Hmm," he hummed as he leaned into the blond's face.

Naruto had a great deal of difficulty with tearing his bemused blue gaze from the professor's eyebrows. He cringed back, though, out of uneasiness towards the teacher's reaction to his rather blunt question.

"I see we've got ourselves a new student," Coach Guy mused, chuckling under his breath as a dark, amused glitter entered his eyes.

"The new kid is _so_ screwed," one kid choked out breathlessly between laughs, which only worsened when he saw the mischievous expression on the man's face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you brought last year's gym clothes. You have ten minutes to dress out. That should be _plenty_ of time! Anyone who comes out later than that has to run double laps today. Anyone out of uniform knows what they'll be wearing for the rest of the period." At that, several people cringed, much to Naruto's confusion. "Get to it!" Coach Guy called out with a clap of his hands before reaching for the shiny little instrument hanging around his neck and blowing into it.

The class scattered towards the two buildings near the basketball court, the boys diverging to the left while the girls sprinted towards the right.

Before Naruto could tell the teacher that he wasn't given a gym uniform, Coach Guy dropped a powerful hand onto his shoulder. "Come with me," he said with an impish grin.

* * *

Inside of the girls' locker room, there was a chorus of slamming metal doors and unceremonious complaints.

"It looks like Guy is going to be just as hard on us this year as he was last year," Ino groaned as she dropped her bag by her locker and started putting in her combination.

"He's still going on about that _power of youth_ crap, too," Sakura said with a roll of her eyes when she sidled up beside the blonde and plopped her bag below her locker.

Once Ino opened her compartment, she crouched down to dig through her bag for her folded gym uniform. She was in the process of standing back up when a crumpled paper ball rolled out of one of the unclasped pockets on Sakura's bag. _That's strange_, she thought to herself as she scooped it up with one hand and tossed it into her locker. _Sakura never throws things away, not even last year's class notes._

"I'm going to go use one of the bathroom stalls before they're all taken," Sakura said as she draped her T-shirt and gym shorts in her arm and walked away.

"Aren't you going to change?" asked Hinata, who already had her shorts on and was just pulling her shirt over her head.

"Yeah," Ino replied as her gaze lowered to her best friend's bountiful chest just before they disappeared beneath the T-shirt. "You're so lucky, Hinata," the blue-eyed girl sighed wistfully as she started undressing. "You've got such a great chest. The things I would do if I had boobs like yours."

Hinata's face immediately flamed into a bright scarlet. "S-stop!" she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest in embarrassment. Since her primary school days, the raven-haired girl had always been an early bloomer; she was the first to develop (and a great plenty more than the majority of girls, too), the first to gain a figure, the first to lose her baby fat—ultimately, the first to go through puberty. She's never had a problem attracting the attention of the opposite gender, though she's never gotten accustomed to the scrutiny or the admiration.

By the time both girls were ready to join the rest of the class outside, Sakura still hadn't returned from the bathrooms. They still had three minutes to spare, so Hinata went to one of the vending machines near the locker room door and Ino started packing her stuff into her locker. She remembered the crumpled paper ball and decided now was as good a time as any to read through it; she was still curious as to what Sakura had to throw away when it was only the first day of school.

Ino didn't know what she expected to find on the creased piece of paper, but as her eyes swiftly scanned through Shikamaru's and Sakura's familiar calligraphy, her eyes widened in surprise before they narrowed in suspicion.

"I got you a water bottle," Hinata announced as she returned to Ino's side, zipping away some loose change in her wallet before closing her locker shut and securing the latch. She turned and held out the cold bottle to Ino before she noticed the wrinkly sheet of notebook paper stretched out in her manicured hands. "Ino?" she asked, confused. "What is that?"

At that moment, Sakura returned to her locker.

"Yeah, Sakura," Ino spat venomously as she looked up at the rosy-haired girl, flipping the paper over in her fingers and holding it out for her to see. "What the hell is this?"


	7. Like Knives

Nothing but the faraway bleating of a whistle and distant chatter disturbed the heavy silence that followed Ino's question. It hung there, nearly as palpable as the metallic tang of fear at the back of Sakura's mouth.

The moment her mint green hues had rested on that crumpled paper dangling between the blonde's fingers—that _stupid_ piece of notebook paper in those _nosy_ manicured clutches—it was as if a giant spoon scooped out all of her insides. The entire day, she was telling nothing but lies: to Naruto, to Ino, to Shikamaru, to Hinata, even to Sasuke at one point. She had never been a good liar in the first place, but today she had learned that if she had the right motivation—and her temper, to boot—they rolled off of her tongue as casually as if she were commenting on the weather.

A cold finger of apprehension slid along Sakura's spine at the livid scowl twisting Ino's frosted pink lips. The two had butted heads in the past—it was only natural, what with their similar personalities—but the vicious flare behind those cold aquamarine eyes was something she'd never been on the receiving end of; it was the infamous Yamanaka glare, the look that people withered under when they rubbed her the wrong way. It was a miracle in and of itself that Sakura could still meet Ino's eyes, though if the trembling of her hand was any indication, she was not squaring her off without feeling any of the effects her frigid gaze could elicit in a person. The fact that the blonde's glare was focused on Sakura—so intently, anyone would swear that it would eventually burn holes—meant that she really screwed up and, if she were being perfectly honest with herself, she knew she did. At that moment, however, the rosy-haired girl didn't care. Not in the slightest. Now that it had come to this point, she would make them see why she had every right to do what she was doing, to justify her actions. She knew there was no way she was going to get out of this confrontation, at least not unscathed. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to try.

Curling her trembling hand into a tight fist, Sakura lifted her chin a fraction and sniffed indignantly. "It's exactly what it looks like: a crumpled piece of paper."

Ino's scowl quickly transformed into a mocking sneer as if to say, _That's the best you could come up with?_ With a flick of her wrist, she dangled the note in front of Hinata and folded her arms across her chest once the paper was out of her hands. Those blue eyes, so severe that they could slice and dice metal as if it were jello, remained intently on Sakura, perusing her expression as her mint green hues flickered from the blonde to the raven-haired girl, her breath catching in her throat.

Although she assumed the role of utter indifference, she couldn't help the tiny stabs of guilt piercing her heart as she watched Hinata's pale lavender eyes scan the words. Those eyes, so unique, so captivating, so damn _expressive_, were suddenly filled with hurt as they slowly, reluctantly, returned to Sakura's face. Her expression had transformed from confused to betrayed in a matter of seconds, and to know that she was the one responsible for her pain didn't reside well with her conscience. Involuntarily, Sakura swallowed roughly, trying to ignore the remorse twisting her gut. She could feel both shame and satisfaction dueling for the primary position in her emotional spectrum, and while the little voice that had been telling her that she shouldn't have been doing all of the things she had done, her inner self was beyond psyched to know that she was finally returning the favor.

Hinata stood there, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly as she tried to form a coherent sentence. Ino spared her a sympathetic glance—Sakura's shoulders sagged at the brief relief of that crippling glare—but otherwise remained silent, her arms still folded across her chest imperiously. When Hinata finally spoke up, the cold grip of guilt squeezed mercilessly at her heart.

"It's all on p-p-purpose?" the raven-haired girl managed to get out.

At the stutter, Sakura flinched. _No, no, no, I must have misheard_, the rosy-haired girl thought frantically. _There is no way that she's stuttering again because of me._

Over the years, Hinata had gotten so good at having control over her speech impediment that Sakura had nearly forgotten why she had one at all. Neither she nor Ino have heard her stutter since the day her mother had been hospitalized, but the fact that she slipped was monumental.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Sakura's feet felt as if it were tilting. She was overcome with such a powerful wave of nausea that she was unable to answer Hinata's question, let alone stand without the help of something to hold onto. Her green eyes stung as she lurched forward, wordlessly shouldering past Ino and Hinata as she stumbled towards the locker room door to search for Guy. If the sound of blood rushing through her ears wasn't so loud, she would've ignored Ino's outraged protests as vehemently as she disregarded the unbearable churning in her stomach.

* * *

_They must be glued_ _on_, Naruto concluded as he followed Coach Guy into the boys' locker room, the slamming metal and rambunctious chatter like background music to the internal conference he was having in his head._ That's the only explanation that makes sense._ Guy led him into his tiny office across the other side of the locker room. As the man gripped the doorknob and threw a mischievous grin over his shoulder at him, he shuddered. _Why doesn't he just _shave _those damn things _off? his inner voice cried out as the blue-eyed adolescent stepped into the cramp, musty room and watched the physical education instructor step behind his desk and rummage through something on the floor, beyond Naruto's line of vision.

He was just about to ask what he was looking for when Guy suddenly straightened up with a satisfied twinkle in his eye. "Aha!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Here it is!"

Making it onto Naruto's "Never Will I Ever" list was damn near impossible; he was the kind of guy that liked to try things at least once, with almost complete unconcern towards humiliation or consequence. The blond hadn't had the slightest clue that there was anything else in the world that could possibly top the only three things on his list (_k__iss a dude_, _do drugs_, and _drink from swirly straws_) until Coach Guy held up a green monstrosity of a jumpsuit under the impression that he would even consider putting it on.

The moment Naruto's depthless blue eyes spotted the thing, he cringed away, forgetting his inner _are those things real?_ debate temporarily. "_No way in hell_," he said immediately.

Guy was undeterred. "Everyone says that the first time I show it to them, but once you put it on and everyone gets to see how—"

_Everyone gets to see?_ "No _freaking_ way in hell!"

The physical education coach crossed his arms and adopted a very stern, teacher-like expression that didn't suit him, though Naruto wasn't sure whether or not it was his ridiculously disproportionate eyebrows that made it so impossible to take him seriously. "Everyone who doesn't have their uniform has to wear this, new student or not. I have an entire box full of these." At that, Guy jabbed his thumb at an open box on the other side of his desk where, surely enough, _more_ distasteful jumpsuits were neatly folded into. Naruto grimaced.

Before the blond could say anything to that, a couple of heads poked into the office with wide grins on their faces.

"Has he put it on yet?"

"No. Oh my god, look at his face!"

The boys began to snicker as Naruto's expression dropped into a scowl. "This isn't funny!"

That only made them laugh more. Naruto took a step forward, more than prepared to slam the door in their faces, when a chorus of outraged yelps and shouts rang out throughout the locker room.

"Oy! Get out!"

"What the hell are you doing in here?!"

"You're in the wrong locker room, pinky!"

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. He shoved past the two guys at the door and dashed out of the office with Coach Guy on his heels, wondering if he had heard correctly. Sure enough, the only pink-haired person Naruto knew was leaning against the entrance to the boys' locker room, her face as pale as parchment.

"Sakura!" Guy exclaimed in surprise. "You're not supposed to be in here." He reached for her arm and helped her up before herding her outside. Naruto kept a worried gaze on the girl as she slumped against the wall beside the entrance to the locker room.

"I'm sorry, Guy," she mumbled as a string of boys started exiting the building, some throwing her dirty looks and others—who Naruto shot withering glares at—winking as they passed. "I don't..." Sakura swallowed. "I don't feel good. Can I go to the nurse's office?"

Coach Guy studied her expression carefully before nodding. "Naruto," he said, turning to the blond. "Can you take her?"

"Yeah, no problem," he said immediately before offering his hand to the rosy-haired girl. "Do you need help walking?"

She nodded sluggishly, prompting Naruto to wrap a secure hand around her elbow. They only walked—_stumbled_ would be a more appropriate word for Sakura—a few feet before the blue-eyed teenager huffed and bent down, scooping the girl in his arms and taking off into a jog.

Sakura was too out of it to protest, but as they closed the distance between the fields and the main building, Naruto couldn't help but smile as to how comfortable he felt with her light weight in his arms.

* * *

"... Every day, you will bring your uniform and a good attitude. And last but not least, fights are forbidden." Coach Guy huffed once he finally looked up from the sheet of paper he had been reading off of. "I handle the discipline for any rule-breaking. But don't worry," he added with a grin when several students groaned. "I'll make sure that the crime fits the punishment. Okay, now that everyone knows the class's rules and procedures, you can go ahead and do whatever you want. The door's open," he finished, gesturing at the shed attached to the boys' locker room where all of the sports equipment was stored.

The class, all of whom were seated alphabetically on the warm grass, stood, buzzing excitedly at the prospect of being left to their own devices for the last forty-five minutes before the lunch period.

Ino got to her feet and began to make her way towards Shikamaru and Kiba, who had moved out of the sun and back under the shade of their towering oak tree. Kiba was stretching out across the grass like a cat and Shikamaru was yawning sleepily when the blonde arrived. She stood over them, her hands propped on her hips and her foot tapping impatiently as she waited for the boys to settle.

"What's up, Ino?" Shikamaru greeted half-heartedly as he shifted his position, trying to find a comfortable position against the bark of the tree.

"This is what." She dug a hand over the collar of her shirt and into her bra. The boys' eyes widened and Kiba began to sputter, their faces turning redder than ripened tomatoes.

"W-what the hell—" Shikamaru began, swallowing roughly. He cut himself off when Ino's hand came out from the shirt with a crumpled paper ball in her smooth, dainty fist. As she smoothed it out in her hands, realization dawned on him. "Is that... what I think it is?"

The blue-eyed girl didn't say anything to that. She merely held it out to the boys and pursed her lips as she watched them read over it.

Shikamaru's eyes didn't read past the first line, recognizing Sakura's faded, loopy handwriting instantly despite the obvious wear of the notebook paper. He shot Ino a surprised glance, his eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. "Did she give this to you?"

Ino scoffed. "As if she'd be dumb enough to hand that over to me," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I found it on the floor while she was changing." She then filled them in on what had happened in the girls' locker room, though there wasn't much to say. All she could verify was what had actually happened—which wasn't much—though she didn't fail to share a lot of the guesswork she'd been doing about the things that went unsaid, like Sakura's sudden bout of nausea and the look in her eyes as she watched Hinata read the note.

"Hinata read this?" Kiba asked quietly, speaking directly to Ino for the first time since the previous night.

The blonde—reluctantly—turned her gaze to the brunet gazing up at her. The note Sakura and Shikamaru had written was clutched in his hands, and there was a glint in his eyes, an emotion that she didn't recognize._ He's probably just angry because of what's going on with Hinata_, she told herself, ignoring the painful lurch of her heart.

"Yeah," Ino answered, just as quietly.

Silence overcame them then, save for the distant background noise of teenagers laughing and basketballs smacking pavement and the dull thuds of shoes kicking soccer balls.

Kiba's eyes were focused on something behind Ino, and as she glanced back, more out of reflex than anything else, to find Hinata and Sasuke chatting comfortably under the shadow of the main building, the deep sadness she'd been trying to snuff out since the night before suddenly reared its ugly head.

Ino Yamanaka was never a girl who handled rejection well. Her parents—the owners of a local chain of flower shops—had always doted on their only daughter, despite their humble beginnings. As the years progressed, they were able to afford more, but by then (around the time she entered the sixth grade), she no longer had materialistic desires. What she really basked in was the attention of her peers, more so from the boys than anyone else. So, in the seventh grade, when she was turned down for the first time, she hadn't had the slightest clue as to what to do with herself. What was one supposed to do when hearing _no _for the first time in thirteen years? Thankfully, her best friends had been there to reassure her that _no_, there wasn't anything wrong with her, that _of course_ she was beautiful, that some guys just had different _preferences_. A few hours of that was all Ino needed to get over the scarce times when she was rejected.

So why was it so difficult for her to put down the stupid disappointment she felt every time she saw him and get on with her boy-crazed antics? Nothing about him seemed extraordinary enough for her to dwell on, to pine for. Even Sakura had noticed that she still hadn't recovered one-hundred percent from Kiba's rejection; she said so in the note.

When she slowly faced forward again, a crestfallen expression on her face, Kiba's warm chocolate hues darted away from Ino as if he had been staring, a faint pink coloring his cheeks.

_It's because he feels as awkward as you do, stupid_, Ino muttered to the hopeful part of herself, fighting off a blush of her own. _Don't get your hopes up. You're better off without him._

Vaguely, she wondered how many times she would have to tell herself that until she actually started to believe it.

* * *

"I'm just really confused, Sasuke," Hinata admitted sheepishly, peeking up at the dark-haired guy from the corner of her eye. The two teens were taking refuge beneath the shadow of the main building, the wall cooling their backs through the fabrics of their cotton shirts as they sat on the ground side by side.

Sasuke had his head turned fully towards the raven-haired girl, giving her his full and undivided attention as she shared with him her Sakura-related woes, entirely oblivious to his building rage as she explained to him what had occurred in the girls' locker room and in the restroom just after Neji's and Naruto's scuffle.

After Coach Guy had assembled the class to drone on and on about the classroom rules and procedures, Sasuke's eyes had shifted between a noticeably irritated-looking Ino and a disheartened Hinata. To see them like that had made him instantly suspicious, so he was grateful when Guy had awarded them with free time. Once the instructor had walked away, he had watched the blonde saunter over to Shikamaru and Kiba without Hinata in tow. Seeing as he was curious about her and it was a rare case that she was ever alone, he had promptly decided to take the opportunity to steal her away before the moment was lost. He hadn't been aware of just how low in spirits she actually was until she was standing before him.

Sasuke didn't know what shocked him more—the fact that he was currently so overwhelmed with such a primal instinct to shelter her, to protect her from whatever it was that had caused such deep grief to show in her normally warm and gentle lilac hues, or the fact that every fiber of his being was telling him that feeling this protective over her was as natural as the sun rising in the East every morning.

"I don't know what I did to make her so angry," Hinata continued, too distracted by her thoughts to ponder his silence. "I thought it might have had to do with you, but now I think it's more than that..." She turned and met his intelligent look with a confused one of her own, gazing up at him as if he'd have the answers to all of her questions. And he wished he did. He wished he could be the one to to right things between her and Sakura. After all, feelings were such an insipid thing to fight over. He had thought that Sakura was above disrupting friendship over some guy she barely knew, but he didn't know her well either, so what had given him the impression that she wasn't like all of those other lovestruck girls?

After a slow, silent moment, the raven-haired girl sighed.

"I'm sorry, Hinata," Sasuke finally said in a low, sincere tone. He turned his entire body to face her now. He raised his hand, moving to comfort her, but as it hung between them awkwardly, he remembered how utterly useless he was when it came to consoling others. Eventually he dropped it back into his lap, where he glared at it in betrayal.

A small, pale hand edged into his line of vision, but before he could react to it, it skimmed over his own. When his surprised gaze snapped up to her face, his eyes asking her _what's this for?_, she squeezed his hand reassuringly. "It's okay, Sasuke," Hinata replied softly, a gentle smile curving her lips. "I didn't tell you because I was looking for pity or because I wanted you to fix my problem." It caught him off guard at just how precise she was in guessing at what he had been fretting over. "I just needed to vent to someone with an objective point of view."

Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke wasn't as objective as she made him out to be. He had always prided himself on being the cool voice of reason and logic, but obviously that wasn't the case when it came to Hinata. That revelation shocked him further, but now that he thought about it, it didn't seem as far-fetched as he initially thought. As far as he knew, this was the first time she had ever been put into this kind of situation, and if she had ever needed protecting, Kiba and Shikamaru were always there to do it for him. But all of their years at the hospital together was reason enough to build this instinct he had to care for her, he just hadn't known he had it at all until she sought him out. So maybe it wasn't so unusual to feel this way. He had never been put into a position where he could look after her, but now that she willingly (though probably unknowingly) offered that role to him, he was going to fall into it graciously.

But now that Sasuke turned over Hinata's words, he realized that he _could _do something after all. Before he could say anything, however, they were interrupted by Ino.

"What are you guys up to?" she asked casually, nodding her greeting at Sasuke before plopping down beside Hinata.

"Don't worry, Hinata," Sasuke said before the raven-haired girl could respond to the blonde. He pulled himself to his feet and brushed himself off nonchalantly. "Things will get better. I promise."

Without another word, he turned on his heel and pulled open the door to the main building before disappearing through it.

* * *

Together, Shikamaru and Kiba watched Ino walk away in silence. They observed how she approached Hinata and Sasuke, exchanging a few words and taking a seat for herself before Sasuke stood and left.

Shikamaru sighed. "You're really stupid, you know that?"

Kiba's eyes instantly darted from the girls to Shikamaru, his face hardening when he took in his tone. "Oh yeah? And why is that?"

Shikamaru shot him an _are you serious?_ look. "If you have feelings for Ino, why did you tell her that you liked Hinata?"

Kiba clenched his jaw and glanced away with a, "Tch." He willed away the blush he felt rising in his cheeks, refusing to feel embarrassed or obligated to reply to his best friend.

Shikamaru studied him carefully before sighing again. "If you're intimidated by her, you should just say so. The worst thing that could happen is that she thinks it's adorable."

_Intimidated? As if!_ Kiba snarled in his head. After all, being intimidated by one of the most coveted girls in the school was the most preposterous thing he's ever been accused of. What was so nerve-wracking about her long, silky cornsilk tresses, her glittering aquamarine eyes, or her upbeat attitude? What was so butterfly-inducing about her attention-drawing presence, her natural charisma, or all of the _experience_ she has under her belt? _Nothing, that's what_.There was no way any of that was _intimidating_. No way whatsoever.

The blush in Kiba's cheeks instantly intensified to the point that you could feel heat radiating from his face. "_I'm not intimidated_!"he spat out through gritted teeth, his eyes intense as he implored the other teenager to believe him.

It didn't work.

"Look, I know how Ino is, okay?" Shikamaru huffed, completely disregarding Kiba's spluttering. "We've been tight since we were, like, five." He glanced at the wrinkled paper in his friend's hands, mulling something over in his head, before continuing. "It looks like she's still into you, too."

At that, Kiba blinked. "W-what?" he stammered, caught completely off guard. "Why do you think that?"

With an exhalation of breath, Shikamaru held his hand out for the paper. Confused, Kiba handed it over, watching as his best friend scanned through the faded words as if in search of something. Then, he folded the paper and held it out for Kiba to see.

_I suggest you swoop in now before she bounces back and moves onto some poor, unsuspecting guy._

"I don't get it," Kiba muttered, rereading Sakura's feminine scrawl over and over again as if imprinting the sentence in his mind would suddenly make sense of what Shikamaru was trying to tell him.

"It means," his friend began sagely, "that she still hasn't moved on."

Kiba read the line one more time, his eyes widening with the realization. His eyelids slowly dropped, however, until his chocolate orbs were narrowed as he unfolded the note and began reading the entire paragraph Sakura had written.

_If you're so desperate for some romance in your life, why don't you ask Ino out? Kiba rejected her so now she's all yours for the taking. I suggest you swoop in now before she bounces back and moves onto some poor, unsuspecting guy._

The two teenage boys were quiet for a moment as Kiba looked up and met Shikamaru's dark, shrewd eyes. Neither one of them had to say anything to understand what the other was thinking.

A long moment of silence, then—

"I don't have feelings for her."

"And I'm not intimidated by her."

"Denial doesn't suit you well, Inuzuka."

"It doesn't suit you well, either, Nara."

* * *

A low groan came from the sheet-wrapped lump that was Sakura. She had cocooned herself into the thin linen on the cot and curled into herself. Any attempts Naruto had made to draw her out of her little ball was futile; for some reason, she was adamant on remaining there, perhaps for the rest of the day, which was strange because Naruto knew she was feeling better, otherwise she wouldn't have accepted the squished granola bar he bought at the vending machine at the end of the hallway.

"Sakura," Naruto tried for the fiftieth time, shaking her shoulder gently. "Why don't you want to come out from there?"

Enveloped securely in the white sheets, Sakura grumbled another unintelligible reply. She heard Naruto sigh and drop into one of the plastic chairs in the room, but still she didn't move from her position. It was much better that way, because if he saw her glossy eyes, he'd question her incessantly and at that moment, she really wasn't in the mood to put up with one of the blond's more irksome qualities.

She didn't even know why she wanted to cry. While, yes, there was an infinitesimal part of her that was filled with shame and regret for behaving the way she had been, the rest of her was nothing but angry. Livid, even.

Why was it that she couldn't, for once in her life, have what she truly wanted? She thought she was deserving.

Sakura went above and beyond in her academic studies in order to impress her parents, to earn their approval, to draw their attention. She even went as far as dedicating herself to majoring in the medical field, one of the most grueling and demanding branches of avocations. Even if it earned the respect and aid from her teachers, it never was enough to satisfy the two people who brought her into this world. And to this day, she has never had the courage to ask them why, nor the wisdom to seek out the answers on her own.

Although she had her professors' attention, her peers never spared her the spotlight. She, Ino, and Hinata were always the golden girls everywhere they went, with Ino bringing up the lead. Respectively, she earned the most reverence from her peers and was the one most likely to be sought out romantically. Hinata, while timid around acquaintances and strangers, had an aura and presence that gravitated others towards her, and even if she wasn't the most spunky girl, she was gentle and loving. Her presence alone was enough to put anyone at ease.

But Sakura? She was a rose, in the most literal sense possible when comparing people with flowers. From a distance, she was a beauty to behold, a young girl with elegance and maturity. But she was not one of the roses sold at Yamanaka Flowers. Her thorns had not been cut, her wild flare had not been tamed. She was as natural and as untouched as a rose in an uninhabited forest. And people didn't know what to do with undomesticated things. The rosy-haired girl understood that. Ino and Hinata—and now even Naruto—were enough proof that not everyone was reluctant, though she knew neither one of them truly _understood_. Sakura had lived in a constant mindset that she was the only one out there who was regularly exercising restraint, until the day she met Sasuke.

Something about him had hit her intuition like a tidal wave; in the beginning, she hadn't had the slightest clue as to what had lured her to the quiet, mysterious Uchiha boy, but she had understood perfectly well that her attraction to him transcended far past the superficial reasons why anyone else would fancy him. And it wasn't until some envious boy back in middle school had instigated a brawl with him when she finally _knew_.

Sasuke was just as untamed, just as self-suppressed as Sakura was. His thorns were simply better hidden. He was the one to make her think that, maybe, there _were_ people out there who would think that she was enough, who would risk getting pricked if it meant getting closer to her, who were maybe just as untamed as she was. He was the beacon of hope that reminded her that she wasn't as alone as she had convinced herself to be, and for the time being, just being able to be around that beacon was enough.

Until she saw Sasuke and Hinata together, that is.

Not once, in all of the years that Sakura had known Sasuke (in the most loosest meaning possible), had he ever laid eyes on a girl and lit up like a torch was the essence of his being and she was the one who set the wick ablaze.

That was when the green-eyed girl knew that admiring from afar wouldn't do anymore, because the more she watched the two interact, the more the beacon dulled. And in her desperation, Sakura did the only thing she could do to salvage what she had holden onto for so long, and that was to extinguish the beacon Hinata had found in Naruto.

Sakura had been so blinded by her own selfish desires that she forgot entirely about the bonds she held so dear to her. The betrayed look in those gentle purple hues, the knowledge that _she _was the one responsible for it, had been like a backhand to the face, like the rudest wakeup call anyone could receive. But what could she do? What choice should she make when she wanted both her friendship _and_ her ties with Sasuke when she knew she could only have one or the other?

To Naruto's utter astonishment, Sakura finally unfolded from her curled position and sat up, her pink locks slightly unkempt.

"Sakura?" Naruto said softly, uneasily.

Her mint green hues were no longer glossed over when she finally dragged her gaze up to his sparkling, depthless blue ones.

"Naruto," she began uncertainly, nervously wringing the cool linen sheets between her hands. "I... messed up." She despised admitting when she was in the wrong to anybody, _especially_ to herself, because the last thing she wanted and the first thing she expected was always a teasing remark.

To her surprise, however, the blond adopted a serious, uncharacteristic expression; he must have sensed that, whatever it was she was going to confess to him, it wasn't something that should be made light of. He waited patiently, however, as he watched her fiddle with the cloth, obviously struggling to form her thoughts into sentences.

After a couple of silent minutes spent gnawing on her lower lip and musing, Sakura huffed a frustrated sigh.

"I really dug myself a deep grave, Naruto," she laughed darkly. When he didn't say anything, her shoulders sagged and she heaved a heavy breath. "How do I repair a friendship?" she asked quietly, her green eyes searching his blue ones timidly.

He blinked. The question caught the blond off guard, but as he put some serious thought to her question, his eyebrows scrunched together introspectively. Another few long moments passed before the silence was interrupted again.

"I think," Naruto began carefully, his elbows planted on his knees and his fingers brushing over his lips thoughtfully, "that time and trust are the only things that could really make things better."

Sakura pondered that for a moment, her lips pursed. "What if you ruined that trust? What if you wholeheartedly believe that all of your actions are completely justified?"

Naruto's bright blue eyes smoldered with curiosity and an obscured, deep-rooted wisdom that the rosy-haired girl would never have guessed he could possess. "Then you swallow your pride and you make it up to 'em. Being set on being right sometimes makes you so blind that you can't tell the difference between right and wrong anymore."

He had a point. She knew he did. _I'll do it_, Sakura decided. _Even if it means groveling, I'll swallow my pride and make it up to Hinata_. Another thought occurred to her, though, and she had to swallow down the invisible lump that had lodged itself at the back of her throat before she could voice it to the blond. "If I do that," she murmured breathlessly, "then I'll lose something else that's very important to me. What am I supposed to do then?" It was then that her eyes began to sting again. Sakura ducked her head and rubbed furiously at her eyes, but it was already too late—Naruto had already seen.

"Sakura," Naruto said softly, comfortingly, as he leaned forward and brushed a gentle hand on her forearm.

The green-eyed girl instantly slapped his hand away. _I don't need his pity_, she hissed internally as she snapped, "What am I supposed to do then?"

Naruto withdrew his hand. His face was so carefully composed that Sakura couldn't tell whether or not she had offended him. But right now she didn't care. She just wanted an answer.

"Then you need to decide what's more important to you," he said quietly, studying Sakura's countenance. "If you can't have both things, then you've got to decide which one would hurt you less to let go of."

There was a flash of emotion behind those brilliant blue eyes, but before Sakura could confirm what it was, it was gone. _What in the world happened to him before he came back here?_ the girl thought to herself. She was just about to ask him as much when someone knocked on the door.

With a start, Naruto's and Sakura's faces snapped towards the door as Sasuke pushed it wide open and stepped inside. His dark, sharp eyes quickly assessed the atmosphere in the room before they settled on Naruto.

"Guy wants you back to class," he merely stated, jerking his head in the direction he had come from seconds before.

And just like that, the blond was back to his old, comical self. Not a single trace could be found of the insightful guy Sakura had had a glimpse of.

"Ugh," Naruto groaned, clambering up from the chair reluctantly. He dragged his feet and slumped his shoulders as she walked past Sasuke and out of the nurse's office. "I don't want to go back to that weirdo's class." He continued whining and grumbling down the hallway until eventually not even the hallways echoed his half-hearted protests. A distant slam of a heavy metal door confirmed his absence.

Sakura and Sasuke eyed each other silently, the girl shyly and the boy reluctantly. A blush was making its way up her neck and to her face as she darted a glance at the lips that had seized hers so possessively not too long ago. Seeing him again reminded her body of the way it had felt to have been held by him in his firm, unyielding hands, of the way her lips swelled and buzzed as they had tasted each other in that little alcove. Her body ached for that touch again, but having such a vivid memory filed away in her head at all was a blessing; it would be too good to be true if that fluke happened twice in one day.

The rosy-haired girl cleared her throat once, then again, before she finally found her voice.

"U-um," she stammered, cringing internally at how embarrassing she sounded. "Did you want something?" She peeked up at him shyly as she fluttered the thick lashes framing her pretty green eyes.

She flinched, however, when she watched his cold, dark hues harden instantly. "We need to talk about Hinata." His voice, just as harsh and merciless as his eyes, injected liquid ice into her veins and she shuddered, turning her face away from the guy she was over the moon for.

And that was when Sakura knew that she wasn't going to subdue to her friends so easily after all.


	8. side note

Hey there, my lovely readers! I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long. Since the time for finals is nearing, school has been extra crazy, what with math tutoring and all of the after-school events my choir class is holding. Until things calm down, I'm going to put "Teenage Hearts" on a temporary hiatus.

Not to worry, though! I should have the next chapter up by the end of April since that is when finals end. I'll even try to write more than one to compensate for the wait~ Until then, I'll keep this notice up for you guys. Thanks for being so patient with me up until now! I hope you'll be able to wait just a little bit longer. (:

With lots of love, Tori's Tiara

P.S.: In order to keep the word-count of my story as honest as possible, I write my most recent chapter's "author's notes" on my profile page. I just didn't want anyone to think that I disregard or am unappreciative of all of the support and reviews you wonderful people leave for me, so if you ever want to know what I have to say at the end of a chapter, all you have to do is check out my page. (:


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